Pacific Crest Trail - Days 66-68 - Kennedy Meadows
Lawrence of Califarabia.
Scenes from the men’s bathroom. This may look like A.I. generated slop, but I assure you, it’s authentic.
Shitty graphic design is my passion.
Getting closer…
The look on the fish’s face is how we should all feel about “A.I.”
We snagged V.I.P. seats near the pack weighing scale. Results varied from 26 to 55 pounds! Remember, the heaviest weight we carry is our emotional baggage.
This dog was exceptionally cute and sat right in front of the entrance to the general store.
Even in this economy, she wasn’t amused when we attempted to exploit cuteness for money.
Thomas is from New Zealand and is young and naive enough to think that carrying a sled through the next 70 miles of snow-free foothills and mountains was a good idea. We all encouraged him. His next (and only) sledding opportunity in this next section will be an insanely steep slope on the north side of Forester Pass, 80 miles north of Kennedy Meadows. Godspeed, Thomas!
”Hey bud, love what you’ve done with your bear canister“
In addition to finding myself out here, I’m also a certified(iable?) semi-professional backpack critic. You can probably surmise from his face that I’m talking shit about his pack, but also hike your own hike (HYOH) and all that.
I don’t think he appreciated my suggestion that keistering it would both solve his problem and technically make his bear canister worn weight.
Moment of truth. 30 pounds with 7 days of food, an ice axe, microspikes, and a thermal base layer! I had to strap the tent on the outside to fit a BearVault 450 inside.
World class lettuce on display. What is this place? Milan?
We eventually stopped chain-drinking light beers and got back on trail for a few evening miles.
There was a volunteer trail maintenance crew at our campsite 8 miles up from Kennedy Meadows. It’s inspiring to see people care for the wilderness and trail they love, but in all honesty, a National Scenic Trail should have full time professional maintainers ala the FDR era CCC and TVA. What better way to get young people invested in the best of America than teaching them skills in the most beautiful parts of their country. Anyway, I’m sure there are billions for adding one more lane to interstates nationwide. It’s embarrassing how old and fat and impotent our nation’s “representative leadership” is. Dignity and diapers are on opposite ends of an axis we shouldn’t even have to consider, yet here we are.
High Sierra, here we come!