Day 50 (23 June)

We leave Kennedy Meadows on the 23rd of June after meeting Wizard and Thibaud halfway and agreeing to stay till the late afternoon before heading out. This gives them more time to relax and get their chores done. After a nice sleep in and another delicious breakfast at Grumpy‘s we check out Jogi‘s store again (which is only a 5 min walk away) because Dario‘s trekking pole tips are in a bad state and need replacing. I also end up buying another pair of leggings because I fear I might be cold with my shorts when hiking up to 4000m.

We blog for a little while and then take the shuttle back to the General Store. We will now see whether all our stuff will still fit our packs as now the bear canisters take up so much room. And they are seriously heavy. Should be interesting.

Somehow we do manage to get it all inside our packs! It is now 5pm - no sight of Wizard and Thibaud. They haven‘t returned from Grumpy‘s and would still have to pack everything up. We feel a little disappointed but can also understand that they just need some more rest. But Simon and Brad are ready to leave as planned, and off we are!

It actually feels great to be back on the PCT! We are still walking in this beautiful meadow as the evening light puts our whole surrounding in a glorious golden light. Hiking is easy even though our packs are crazy heavy! We soon reach the Kennedy Meadows Campground where we sign into yet another PCT register. After only a couple of miles we reach a beautiful river with a lovely bridge where we decide to set up camp. We are not used to this much water yet and are just loving it! It’s also a good idea to let Brad ease into hiking again after almost a month off. Poor guy, we do tease him all the time about being „only“ a section hiker. But he’s a good sport and even makes fun of himself. Brad, it’s so good to have you back!
After we‘ve set up our tents we all jump into the ice cold water, this is awesome! Soon two hikers we met in KM, Monica from Poland and Chris from Germany, join us in our freezing pool. Then it‘s time for dinner. The first dinners after town are always the best because we can chose from anything we like. Knorr Fusilli with Pesto tonight, yaaaay!