Day 41; Wed June 6 2007

(Stud) Strong winds kept up most of the night last night and when we woke up everything was covered in sand. It seemed to make its way into things as well as covering the outside of everything. Since there were dark clouds overhead, we slept under the tarp--but the rain never came. However the tarp flapped around mercilessly all night. Dwight and I agreed--we selected our tenting location poorly.

It was in the low 40's when headed down the trail at 6--and I kept my jacket on the entire 8.5 miles to our destination today of Kennedy Meadows. Normally we're pealing off extra layers within the 1st mile or so.

The trail continued through a burn area, then a pine forest before meandering along the Kern River. As soon as the river came in view, we spotted a beaver swimming along.

It was an easy hike in--although (once again) we managed to get off course as we wandered into a private campground. We went to a high spot--located the trail, and got back on course.

There is a small general store here where many hikers are gathered. We have met many new folks (Rest Stop, Fruitcake, Nuts, Totally Rachel, Grasshopper) and rejoined many met along the way (Mike, Poet, Chris, Poet, Coyote, Thirsty Boots, Grimace, Troll, Oblivious, Apple Pie). The store lets you keep a tab, where we are charging everything from use of the outdoor shower to ice cream.

From here we will start the high Sierras--what many think is the highlight of the PCT. We will take the day off tomorrow to make final gear changes, review our food, plan out our mileage--and generally fret over heading to the highest elevations of the trail.

Tonight I am trying out my home made sleeping bag for the first time. This should be a good test as is quite cold (coldest night in a while) and windy and we are sleeping cowboy style.