Relaxing in Kennedy Meadows.

Hi all... and Hi to my wonderful 3 followers... Spencer (well, he's sat right next to me at the moment, but...), to Leigh-Ann, Tom's Scuba friend and to Todd, my good bro from Singapore...

Well, we are up at the start of the Sierra Nevada, resting up at the wonderful hikers rest-stop haven that is Tom Figueroa's place up here in Kennedy Meadows.

No pix this time as (not meaning to sound ungrateful) it is a bit of a mission to upload pictures from my camera to this slow PC... and to upload on the slow internet conection. However, having free use of a PC and internet is fantastic, so we are all taking the chance to do some updating.

So after the last post... the lonely highway got less lonely about 20 minutes after I posted, as we (Spencer and I) got a ride back up to Walker Pass from a good guy named Doug Rossback... Once we were up at the pass, we re-stuck out our thumbs and quickly got another ride from there down to the junction at Highway 14, where there were a few roads going off in different directions across the desert.
Just as we were figuring out which road to go and stick our thumbs out on next, a State Trooper pulled up in his shiny black patrol car.
Learning from my past experiences with John Q Law, I turned, waved, smiled, and gave my broadest Aussie "G'Day Mate!"... instant problem-situation avoider!!
He grinned back, and after chatting as to what we were doing, he gave us a ride 15 odd miles up the highway to the junction to Kennedy Meadows road. Sweet!
Blasting up the highway at 100mph in a patrol car complete with Remington 12-gauge shotgun and CAR-15 Armalite Rifle strapped next to us was a blast! If he'd have gone with the lights and sirens too, it'd have been complete!

Karma was still with us too, as no less than 5 minutes after being dropped off by the kind officer (to protect and SERVE..! which he did...) we got our final 30 minute ride up to Kennedy Meadows by a chap called Randy, another hiker, although due to injury he's resting up a bit at the moment.

Pulling in to the General Store we spotted some trail mates, so it was time for more swapping of stories and swilling of cold sodas.
The "Dynamite" couple that is Tom n Tori (TNT... dynamite... geddit?) who we have been seeing along the trail quite a bit, gave us the low-down on where to stay and what to do, and by late afternoon, Spencer and I were comfortably accomodated in Tom F's great hiker haven.

The next morning, whilst waiting to get our laundry in the machine, our Tom came bookin' on in, a good 3 to 5 hours earlier than we expected him!
So after collecting our supplies from the store (they accept postal deliveries for hikers) we have re-sorted some gear, packed food into our new bear cannisters, got stuff ready to send back, and have done our best to rest up.

The weather has been gorgeous, and the smell of the pines everywhere is fantastic. We hear the forecast is for more of the same for the whole week too, so we are pumped for a good weeks hiking through some of the most amazing scenery on the trail.

We will re-supply in about a weeks time in the town of Independance... unfortunately, it is a 9 mile side trail off the PCT to get to a road, and then a 15 mile road walk, (or hopefully a hitch!!), to get to town. It's either that, or we have to carry 12+ days of food to get us to Vermillion Valley Resort, which doesn't have much... but, that's too much to carry.
From Independence I am sure I will have cell-phone coverae, so will update again if I haven't managed to do so sooner.

Until then,
RWK.
Out.