Date: June 21, 2017
Miles: 2.5 miles (4km) from Horseshoe Meadow back to PCT + 5.6 miles (9km) from Trail Pass to Chicken Spring Lake.
Health: Feel tired and on the last mile my left shin started hurting.

We sleep in late but I slept poorly as the AC was pointed directly at my head. Weird placement for a bed. The girls start making oatmeal with their stoves and Camp Counselor and I joke around that we should rename Poison Ivy as Oatmeal as she's obsessed with it. She doesn't object.

As we're eating our breakfast we read about the sixth drowning in the Sierra this year. As all the snow starts to melt with the heatwave, the rivers are getting huge and dangerous. The trail rumors we keep hearing swing from "doable" to "impassable".

Our plan is to get off at the Kearsarge Pass and go down to Bishop. We don't have any big river crossings on that section, but we get to see the snow, summit Mt. Whitney, and see what the conditions are like. And also how fast we are able to move up there. Time is starting to be an issue as we still have over 1,500 miles to cover after the Sierra. If we move too slow, we need to get out and flip-flop to have enough time to finish the trail before winter hits us up north.

The girls work on their plans as they were only section hiking and this is where their hike ends. It's a shame we didn't meet earlier and that they aren't doing the Sierra.

After morning tasks the girls head out to do laundry and I need to go to Post Office to pickup my old backpack. I'm doing a backpack shuffle and I need to switch back to my MLD Prophet for the heavier Sierra carries. I ship my Pa'lante Pack onwards to Bishop which is our next resupply stop.

Many people have skipped ahead from Bishop due to the dangerous river crossings and the snow. By shipping my Pa'lante Pack, I can either switch back to it if we decide to skip, or just bounce it forwards on the trail. You can bounce a box for free for six times. This comes handy when dealing with the logistics on the trail.

On my way to Post Office I get a message from Blü, he's in town and heading out with us. Yeah! He was in Bishop yesterday so I though he just skipped there. I have two packages in the Post Office, but I bounce the one I shipped from Kennedy Meadows to Bishop, and switch the backpacks in the second box and ship that to Bishop as well.

As I'm at the Post Office, KB, Fyre, Dandelion, and Fire Ant show up. They are also shipping packages to Bishop and some to home.

We're heading out soon but I still need to do my resupply. I can't do that when I'm hungry so I head to the Subway for a quick breakfast. At the grocery store I do the usual back and forth between shelves, trying to find calorie rich light foods that I want to eat. I hate doing resupplies as I never find anything good to eat. Then at the trail everyone who resupplied from the same store seems to have all these delicious foods to eat.

I just stuff my basket full of same old stuff I've always eaten but add the crackers Blü always eats, and the salty fishes KB loves. I can use them to bribe her on the trail if the need ever comes up. I weight the basket with my hand, feels heavy, should be good for five days. I hope.

The girls are already at the hotel and I start to stuff my food to the bear canister. It should fit seven days of food but I barely fit five days. Ugh. My backpack is so heavy. With all the extra snow gear (ice axe and microspikes), warmer clothing, the bear can, and the summit beer for Whitney, this is the heaviest my pack has been on the trail so far.

As we leave, we take the leftover beers from last night to Rocky and Puppy. They are staying in the hotel for extra night so they can enjoy the beverages that we can't take on the trail.

We check-out and then join the rest of the crew behind the Air Streamer/Outfitter on the Main Street. This is the best place to hitch out of town as it leads to the road up to the Trail Pass. The town of Lone Pine is at 3,400 feet, whereas the Trail Pass is at over 10,000 feet, so it's quite a climb up the mountain.

I say goodbye to Katie (Camp Counselor) and Natalie (Poison Ivy) as our paths separate here. We get back on the PCT and they take few trips before they head back home.

We hitch in the shade of a tree as the 40 degree (39c) weather is too hot to be in the sun. Thankfully the elevation gain means it won't be this hot up at the Trail Pass or on the trail.

Dandelion and Fyre catch the first ride up. They're going up with a trail angel who already has two other hikers in her car. Ten minutes later KB, Fire Ant, and I catch a ride up too.

It's a long way up, and the elevation and steep grade of the road means we're going really slow. On the way up we see smoke rising from the side of the mountain range. Fire? We watch as the fire spreads wider as we drive up. We wonder if this is going to block our hike as it's between where we start and Mt. Whitney, where we're heading. We hike on the other side of the range though so it should not be an issue.

Once at the Trail Pass I eat the leftover Subway sandwich and camel up on water and then head out towards Horseshoe Meadow with KB and Fire Ant. From Horseshoe Meadow we start our climb back up to the PCT.

My pack feels so heavy as we climb. Luckily we don't have to carry much water as it's plentiful now with all the snowmelt.

At the top, back on the PCT, we meet an older gentleman with his two dogs. We take the opportunity to have some four legged love and take a pause to play with the puppies. Meeting trail puppies is always so much fun.

After the pause we shoulder our packs and rejoin the PCT again. We're only doing a short hike to get to Chicken Springs Lake for the night. It's supposed to be a beautiful spot between the mountains and it takes us closer to our Mt. Whitney summiting in two days.

As we climb above 11,000 feet my breathing becomes harder. This is the highest we been on the trail and it's completely new to my poor lungs. I have to slow down. KB goes on and we hike for a while with Fire Ant. We cross streams and beautiful alpine meadows. The scenery is so different from what the first part of the trail was.

I'm not feeling the hike today. The poorly slept past two nights and the elevation make me a grumpy hiker. I slow don't to a crawling speed and then suddenly I feel a familiar pain on my shin. But this time on the left shin.

I stop to put on the shin guard on my left leg and curse out loud. I'm fairly certain that my shin problems are caused by my shoes. I make a mental note to get rid of the Altra's as I get to Bishop. It's a larger town and they should have a better outfitter with shoes.

I carefully step the last miles to the Chicken Spring Lake not to irritate the shin anymore. I keep cursing my luck. At the lake I find all the girls and the view is absolutely amazing. The lake is perched between two large mountain tops and still half covered in ice. I sit down next to the girls and dig out my dinner from the bear can. My hurting shin takes all my energy and I can barely enjoy the scenery.

After dinner I quickly setup my shelter and get in it to end this day. Hopefully I get a good nights sleep and my leg would feel better tomorrow. I'm in my sleeping bag two hours before hiker midnight.

Damn you legs!

Date: June 20, 2017
Miles: 3.5 miles (5.6km) plus hiking down to Horseshoe Meadow.
Health: One of my toes is not getting along with the Altra's. Otherwise feeling great.

I slept poorly last night. The mosquitoes and the warm night made cowboy camping hard and around midnight I had enough. I needed to get out of my sleeping bag but not being eaten by mosquitoes so I just quickly put on my headlamp and threw up my shelter. I used the red light not to wake up the girls sleeping close to me.

It took me two minutes to haphazardly set up the tarp and just throwing my sleeping gear inside. That's better. I could cool outside my sleeping bag and be protected from the mosquitoes. They weren't that bad but just enough to not want to sleep outside of my bag.

We wake up slowly and get our gear together. We don't have to walk too far today as we're going in to Lone Pine today. Today is Katie's and Natalie's last day on trail but we get to hang in Lone Pine for a day.

We quickly hike the few miles to Trail Pass from where we descend down to the trailhead. The trail drops down quite a way so it's a steep climb. Once down we cross Horseshoe Meadow and then get to the trailhead.

It's not morning anymore and there aren't that many cars coming in, but it's still too early for day hikers to leave to give us a ride down to Lone Pine. We wait a good while to no avail.

I try to talk to the few people we see at the trailhead but none are going to town today. There's a small road close by so I take my backpack and decide to hike there to see if I could get us a ride from there.

As I get halfway through the parking lot a car passes me and I see familiar faces inside. The car stops next to me and it's a trail angel giving rides to and from Lone Pine. They take us aboard and soon we're heading down to Lone Pine. It's almost 30 mile drive down and the elevation drops from high in the mountains down to the valley floor. As we drop the temperature keeps rising and reaches 100 degrees (39c) at the valley floor.

Once in Lone Pine we get some breakfast and then a hotel room. We're all quite beat so instead of going out to eat we decide to have a nice picnic at our room.

I go out to check out the outfitters as I need to get a baselayer for the Sierra as I didn't send one with my Kennedy Meadows resupply. I buy a Montbell UL merino baselayer and I couldn't be happier. The price is great and the total weight is really light.

Then I head out to get my hair cut in a barbershop and to get some drinks for our picnic. I buy different beers, white wine, and ice. The girls go out and buy an awesome vegetarian setup. I'm happy to eat something healthy for a change.

We spend the rest of the evening drinking, eating, and talking. Before we know it, it's late and we need to get to sleep. Although I've had tons of fun, I also feel sad as I know that I have to say goodbye to Katie and Natalie tomorrow. I keep wishing I would've met them earlier on the trail so I could've spend more time with them.

Date: June 19, 2017
Miles: 17.6 miles (28.3km), from mile 724.2 to mile 741.8.
Health: Walking feels great but the Altra's are hurting one of my toes. Need to find a solution for that.

Everyone wakes up after 5am and we quickly break down our camp. This was my first time sleeping at 10,000 feet (3km) and it was great. The night was actually so warm that at one point I had to wake up and remove clothing.

Camp Counselor and Poison Ivy stay back to eat breakfast while others head out. We're going down for a while so it's going to be an easy morning.

The views are amazing and we can see the Sierra range and snow topped mountains not far away. That's where we're going. I'm actually really excited about getting on snow.

I was last from our group to leave the camp and I catch Fyre down at the first water source, about 5 miles (8km) down from our camp. We dry camped, and I didn't want to carry too much water to the top of the mountain, so I was already getting a bit thirsty.

I fill up about a liter, camel up a second liter, and then head after Fyre. Others are little ahead. I soon catch up to Fyre again but nature calls and I have to go dig a hole in the woods. Had a beautiful view this morning for hole digging.

Back on the trail I soon catch up to Fyre again as I'm always almost running downhill. She lets me pass and I continue on while listening to the best of Backstreet Boys. Great hiking music!

After a while I catch Fire Ant and as the trail levels up we hike at the same pace. We cross an absolutely gorgeous meadow and stay there for a while to wonder at the beauty of our surroundings. After some up and downs we get to the next water source where Sunshine and Dandelion are already waiting and having the second breakfast. Fyre soon joins too.

We eat and play with our bear canisters. While I don't really like the canister, it makes for a handy stool to sit on. Camp Counselor and Poison Ivy catch up to us too. We talk about food, which seems to be one of the most common conversation topics on the trail. We talk about what we want to eat when we get to next town, what to put on our next resupply, being vegan, trail foods we like and dislike, what we want to eat after we're done with the PCT, and so on.

Sadly we have to move on as the trail calls. From here we climb over 1,600 feet of elevation back to 10,000 feet. It's not that much but the sun is already out at full force, and everyone still feels tired from yesterday's climb.

Others go first and I leave with Camp Counselor and Poison Ivy. They're only section hiking and ending their hike in Lone Pine so I want to spend as much time with them as possible. They both leave a little bit before me but head out on the wrong trail. I yell after them and soon we're all on the right trail and climbing up a mountain under a burning sun.

We pass Fyre at one point and she's having difficulties breathing. She assures us she's ok and we continue. It's the elevation. I'm having surprisingly little trouble with the elevation, especially considering how hard San Jacinto was for me.

The girls decide that they need a break and stop for a siesta. I need to continue as I want to make it to Lone Pine before the night to meet Blis and it's a little over 21 mile hike.

After more climbing I reach the top where I find the others taking a nap. There's also cell reception so I manage to call home and tell my parents I'm ok. I also receive a large number of messages asking if I'm ok and why my blog hasn't been updated for a while. It's hard when you often don't have connection and free time at the same time.

I try to upload new posts but the network is so slow that I can't get anything online. I waste two hours and most of my phones charge trying to update my site.

There's some snow on the top and we play with Fire Ant and practice self arresting with my ice axe. It's so much fun to play in the snow.

I'm so tired that instead of hiking on, I stay with the girls at the top of the mountain and siesta for few hours. But soon it's time to start moving again.

We hike on and I start to feel really tired. I stay back constantly and only catch up to KB, Dandelion, and Fire Ant at the bottom of the mountain, while they stop to get more water from the river. Fyre catches with us too.

I don't feel like hiking on, and knowing that this is where Katie and Natalie had planned to stop, I stay back as the girls head on. I set my pad against a rock where I can see the trail and also the view from the mountain.

Not long after the girls have gone on, I see big thunder cloud appear around the mountain and going towards where the girls just headed. I watch and wonder at the thunder and lightning as the cloud passes me by.

After a while I see Katie and Natalie appear down the trail. We look at the sunset for a while and then go set up our camp. I set up cowboy style and the girls set up their tent. They're having some trouble with their inner net zippers.

We talk long into the night, watching the stars. As the girls fall asleep, I try to sleep as well but the mosquitoes keep me awake. I try to fall asleep but the pesky bastards wake me up every time I almost fall asleep.

I get tired with the mosquitoes and quickly get up and set my tarp up. I get in and soon fall asleep.

Date: June 18, 2017
Miles: 14.7 miles (23.7km), from mile 709.5 to mile 724.2.
Health: Feeling great. Legs tired from the long climb.

We woke up at 4:30am. The sun wasn't up yet but the air was still warm. Camp Counselor and Poison Ivy were already up but I wasted few minutes in my sleeping bag. Night hiking and early mornings are not a good combination.

The girls left the camp soon and I stayed back. I still needed to get water from the creek close by. Soon I was back on the trail.

The trail kept climbing out of a valley and the views were amazing. I was so happy for the change of scenery.

Soon I caught up with the girls and Crumbs as they were eating breakfast next to the trail. Although I had already eaten while hiking, I stopped, happy for their company. Also, I was in no hurry today.

After a leisurely breakfast we got back on the trail. Soon the grade turned steeper and we really had to climb. Luckily the water was plentiful today, so that made our packs a little lighter.

I hiked on with Katie (Camp Counselor) and soon we were just the two of us. While climbing I noticed that her hiking style was very energy consuming so I offered to teach her about the "thru-hiker shuffle". As we hiked on I told her about the why's and how's of the shuffle and soon she was easily keeping up with my pace. It was great seeing her go from slow, energy consuming "regular style" to the shuffle, and seeing her get the "wow!" reaction when she nailed it down.

Soon I was able to speed up and we made nice progress shuffling down the trail. After the climb we hiked a bit in a forest and then reached a large meadow between mountains. The views were just amazing. With snow topped mountains at the far end, a river running through the middle, it was like one of those movie meadows. We hiked on with huge smiles on our faces.

It was fun having a new hiking partner. That means you get new, interesting topics to talk about. We talked about relationships, life, and Iron Maiden.

The miles went fast and soon we reached another meadow. As we got down to the river we saw a large bridge crossing the river. Coming from the desert, and suddenly being on a green meadow with a large, flowing river, and surrounded by magnificent mountains, was just epic.

Even though it was still early, the spot was so beautiful that we simply couldn't pass by. We put our packs in the shade and started to look around. There was a huge flock of swallows flying around the bridge, going in every direction. As we stood on the bridge, the swallows just flew all around us and under the bridge, to feed their little ones. We felt like we had arrived to a magical place.

Soon Poison Ivy joined us as well. There was a large sandbank on the river and we went to investigate it. We walked up and down the sandbank, playing with mud and enjoying the nice cold water. We also found two large rocks that you could sit between and have the stream flow over you.

Others started to arrive as well and almost everyone stopped to siesta on this gorgeous spot. The riverside was soon full of hikers enjoying the plentiful water and the end of the desert.

Nothing can last forever so after an extremely long siesta we started to head out. We had a huge climb ahead of us. We were climbing to over 10,000 feet (3,048m) today. Although the air wasn't as hot here as in the desert, it was still hot.

On the way out I taught Natalie (Poison Ivy) the thru-hiker shuffle as well and now all three of us were moving fast.

The climb was long. I hiked with Natalie and between trying to catch our breath from the climb, we had long discussions. I really like hiking with her and I hate that she and Camp Counselor have to leave the trail so soon (they're only section hiking to Lone Pine).

We had to take a ton of breaks as the climb was just never ending and steep. Although my legs were screaming from pain, I still enjoyed every moment. I feel like if I can do the Sierra and all the climbing, I'm going to be a monster of a hiker and the rest of the trail is going to be "easy".

At around 9,000 feet we started seeing snow and the mosquitoes appeared. I remember that I accidentally packed my repellent in the package going to Lone Pine. Great!

At the water source the mosquitoes are trying to eat my legs so I have to continue. Natalie stays back and I hike on with Katie. We keep climbing and start seeing more and more snow.

We've climbed for hours now and it's starting to get dark. If we want to camp after the pass, we're going to get there after dark.

We break out of the trees and see a large meadow, and at the end of the meadow we see the pass. At least we hope it's there. I check the Guthooks app and that's the pass, not far away.

As we finally reach the pass we see KB, Fyre, Dandelion, and Fire Ant already camping there. That's perfect as I'm not sure how much further I would have managed to hike. Soon Natalie also comes to camp.

As the mosquitoes are out in force, we set up our tents and it's soon a small tent city. We eat and share trail stories. The girls break out into a song again.

I look around and realize that it's just me and six girls, camping on a top of a mountain, looking at the sunset and the snow capped mountains of the Sierra. Life is pretty good right now!

Date: June 17, 2017
Miles: 7.3 miles (11.7km), from Kennedy Meadows to mile 709.5.
Health: Feeling great except the heat is really getting to me. Can't wait to get to higher elevation and into cooler weather.

I try to sleep late but I'm woken up by the sun around 7am. While sleeping next to Camp Counselor and Poison Ivy, at the far end of the campground, was great for being far away from all the noice from the bonfire, it meant we were outside of the small forest and not protected from the early morning sun.

I try to find some way to still sleep but the sun doesn't seem to care about my sleep and I have to get up before I get toasted in my sleeping bag. I haphazardly put all my things together and carry them back to the grocery store. I have to go through all my gear and resupply boxes today for the Sierra.

Before all that I need a breakfast. I miss the shuttle that Sunshine and others take to Grumpy Bears but I hop on to the next one.

Grumpy Bears is a small restaurant about three miles from the Grocery store and they serve early morning breakfast and all-you-can-eat pancakes. There's a shuttle (read: a pickup truck) that takes hikers back and forth.

Once I and about a dozen other hungry hikers reach Grumpy's, we get in line and make our orders. The service matches the name, but in a charming way. I'm trying to order my breakfast with extra bacon but I'm basically told it's not going to happen. No please's or thank-you's here.

I find my spot on the table with the others and we play a game of Uno. We get halfway through the game when the first of our pancakes start to arrive. The pancake, that's singular, is absolutely massive. I drink my chocolate milkshake while I watch others struggle with their massive pancakes. Breakfast milkshake is always a great choice!

Then the rest of our breakfast starts to appear and Dandelion and I happily help all the vegans in our group to get rid of their bacon. I'm glad I didn't get to order the extra bacon.

After the breakfast Sunshine, Fire-ant, and I visit the Triple Crown Outfitters next door. Partly because we want to check out their selection, and partly because we really want to meet Yogi, the owner of the store. She's a triple crown long distance hiker and famous for her PCT handbooks. 

After a quick visit to her store we end up waiting for over 40 minutes for the next shuttle back. It's too hot to be outside.

Once back at the grocery store, it's time to go through my resupply package. I've already forgotten what I had prepared for myself a month and a half ago.

I find a good, shaded spot on the terrace and start going through the package. Lots of snacks, ice axe, microspikes, ziplock bags. But I can't find my base layer. What have I done with it? I even called Mikko about a week ago to check that I wasn't accidentally stupid enough to leave it out of the Sierra package.

Also, no meals, only snacks. I forgot to tell Mikko to take the meals out from the fridge where I stashed them before leaving. Me and my memory.

But not having the meals is actually a good thing because my, or our, Sierra plan has changed with the snow. We're now going to Lone Pine, which is only three days away. That means I don't need as much food as I originally had planned to ship here. And now I'm shipping all the extra food to Lone Pine so I'm saving money not having to ship a ton of food.

I fill the bear can with three days worth of snacks, then fill the empty space with my other gear. Fitting the bear can in my 40 liter pack is going to be interesting.

After I have my gear sorted out, I ship the rest to Lone Pine and pack my backpack. Everything fits barely. I can make it to Lone Pine by stuffing other gear to the bear can, but from Lone Pine onwards the food carriages are going to be bigger. I need to switch back to my 48 liter MLD Prophet.

Poison Ivy and Camp Counselor leave as they want to hike 8 miles out of Kennedy Meadows to a good camping spot. I stay behind with our tramily and we sit in the shade, drink beers and sodas, and enjoy resting.

We have no clear plan on how to hike from here on out. I feel like I want to do some miles today so I plan to catch up to Camp Counselor and Poison Ivy. Others plan to hike just 2 miles to the nearest campground.

It's getting late, which is good for getting to hike in a cooler weather. It's starting to look like no one is leaving, but I want to get back on the trail, so I leave alone. I'll do the 8 miles in few hours and meet the others tomorrow.

I hike the road walk back to the trail and start hiking as the sun is setting. The views are magnificent. I'm walking on a meadow between two mountain ranges, watching the sun set. The air is nice and cool and sparrows are flying around me.

On the way I pass two campgrounds and then it gets dark. I switch on my headlamp and pass a third campground. These are actual campgrounds, with spots for cars and so on. I see many bonfires and people car camping.

After the third campground the trail swirls up to a forest and starts to climb. I listen to music and hike with a good pace. This is so fun!

As the night gets darker, all the animals start to appear. I see tens of scorpions, spiders, and other creatures. At one point I turn my headlamp up to the right of me and see a pair of eyes staring at me. They follow me for a while and I pump up the power on my headlamp. A coyote. We stare at each other for a while and then she turns and disappears back in to the trees. I see her, or some of her friends, few more times during the hike.

At one point the trail takes a sharp turn left and crosses a river. At that turn I see many tents as people are camping there. As I leave the camp behind me on the other side of the river, I hear a dog starting to bark at the camp. Must be the coyotes following me that startled him.

I'm in such a good hiking mood that I soon notice I'm almost done with the 7.3 miles to the campground where the girls were planning to stay. Wonder if they are there.

As I approach the spot I see their tent and switch my headlamp to a low power. I try not to wake them up but as I get closer, they both wake up. They were sleeping softly as they had seen eyes around the campground. Must be the coyotes.

I setup cowboy camp next to their tent and quickly fall asleep. It's good to be hiking again and out of the desert!

Date: June 16, 2017
Miles: 6.7 miles (10.8km), from mile 695,5 to Kennedy Meadows.
Health: Feeling a little tired from the heat.

Today is going to be the day we're reaching the official ending of the PCT desert section. While this is something everyone has been anxiously waiting, for me it's going to be a bitter sweet achievement as I had to skip a weeks worth of the trail and I don't really feel like I hiked all the way here.

I started out with the plan of hiking a continuous footpath from Mexico to Canada but trail logistics and getting injured got in the way. While I'm not the only one who has had to skip sections, and even though I'm planning on doing those skipped sections later, I just don't feel as good as I hoped to getting here. But I do feel great proudness and joy for my fellow hikers who have hiked the whole way here.

This morning we woke up with Fyre and saw no sight of the others. They had not rolled in during the night. I made a big stick arrow on the trail to point to the spot we were camping in.

Fyre got out fast and I left more slowly after her. I tried to eat some breakfast and went through my snack collection while hiking but just couldn't make myself eat any of the bars I had left. All I could think was the burgers and ice cold sodas at the KM General Store. I decided to skip breakfast and just get there fast.

As I got out of the forest we slept in, I could see how the scenery started to change. We were clearly still in the desert but the mountains around us looked different, more grey than the red and yellow ones we've seen for the past month and a half.

I quickly reached the Kern river that starts from the melting snow in the Sierra. By the river I met the three sisters we hitched with from Lake Isabella, and soon after them Fyre and Otter and Otters trail family. We all left in a big group and started to hike towards the junction to the Kennedy Meadows.

From the river the trail starts a slow, gradual climb. The air was getting really hot, even thought it wasn't even 9 o'clock yet. I started to run out of energy and stayed behind. Not eating a breakfast wasn't the smartest decision. I thought about eating something but I just couldn't stomach the idea of a Clif bar. Only three more miles, I can do that.

Soon we reached the 700 mile marker. For me that was about 560 mile marker. I took a quick photo but didn't feel any feeling of accomplishment. I hated that I had to skip, while at the same time, I knew it was the only option for me.

The trail soon reaches the Kern river again and there's an excellent spot for swimming. I stop for a moment to look at the river but I'm so hungry that I have to continue. I'm melting from the heat but I need to get that burger. Swimming can wait.

I keep looking at Guthooks to see the mileage even though I know it's a mistake. Zero point six miles. Zero point four miles. Zero point two miles. I wish I was there already.

I finally reach the junction to the KM General Store. From here it's a mile long road walk. The hard road feels really weird and hurts to walk on. I drink the last of my water and moments later I'm offered a ride to the store but I want to walk all the way and politely decline the offer.

Soon I see the sign and as I approach, I get applauded by reaching the end of the desert. It's an custom that when ever a new hiker gets in, everyone cheers and applauds them.

I'm too hungry to think of anything else except for food and drop my pack to the first possible spot and head to the grill. After a moment of stumbling around, I find the small window where you make orders but I'm told the grill is closed. They closed at 10am. It's 10.05am.

I'm told they open again at 11am so I head to the store to get some ice cold soda to fill my stomach with. I can't decide between Gatorade and Dr Pepper so I just get both. It's starting to get way too hot for me and it's only going to get hotter in the coming days. Thank god we're done with the desert.

I soon find a lot of familiar faces and hear from people I haven't seen in days or weeks. Blis is also here and we get to chill. It's been a while.  We watch and cheer all the new hikers coming in and when ever there's a familiar face, we go and greet them at the door. Everyone's happy to be here.

Finally the grill opens and I get my double cheese bacon burger. It's so good! I get more sodas and try to drink the heat away.

Then we see Queso coming in. And then, one by one, the rest of our tramily comes in. We're all together again! They tell us that they had seen the note we left them about the bear but had gotten there only this morning.

The rest of the day is spend opening everyone's resupply packages, wondering about all the new Sierra gear and how it's going to fit in our packs, and just goofing around with friends. I get another round of burgers and drink more sodas. The best part about thru-hiking is that you are required to consume as many calories as you possibly can.

I leave my resupply boxes for tomorrow. It's going to be interesting to see how all my Sierra gear and the bear canister are going to fit my new, smaller, 40 liter backpack. Luckily I only have to make it to Lone Pine, which is about three days away. That's where I shipped my larger backpack. That's also where I hope to have some connection to update my blog again.

I fall asleep again under the stars. In few days we're going to be above 10,000 feet (3km) in snow in the Sierra. I can't wait!

Date: June 15, 2017
Miles: 19.6 miles (31.5km), from mile 675.9 to mile 695.5.
Health: My legs are very tired from all the climbing yesterday. Shin feels good.

The wind kept whirling around the saddle and while we were camping little bit below, it still got to us a little. I woke up few times during the night and the stars were really beautiful.

As my alarm went off at 4.45am I turned it off and turned on my side so I could see the sun rising behind the mountain range far in the distance, slowly starting to illuminate the Mojave desert floor far below us. What a view to wake up to!

Otter and Fyre were still asleep so I didn't rush out of my sleeping bag, instead I just gazed at the beautiful sunrise for an good 45 minutes. Then I noticed Otter was getting up so I started to get moving also.

Otter was fast out the camp as she wants to make the 23 miles to the Kern River before evening. Fyre and I are only doing about 17 miles to a campsite with a water source so we are in no rush. We're hoping that the rest of our tramily catches up to us today.

The trail goes down first for about 2.5 miles and then follows along the valley floor for the rest of the way to our first water source. The trail is easy and flat so we can just easily cruise while eating breakfast.

We fill our water bottles, eat the second breakfast and start getting ready for the 2,500 feet (762m) climb up from the valley. We heard some rumors about possible trail magic on the road before the climb but sadly there was none.

The climb is much better graded than the one we did last night. But it's still a long climb. After about hour and a half I stop at the last water source before our camp. The spring is at about one third of the way up the climb and I'm already winded. That's what resting for a week does to your legs.

I take a rest at the spring and eat early lunch as I'm still hungry. More people show up and we have an early siesta. But we can't stay for too long as the sun is getting higher and we still have a long way to climb.

After about an hour of climbing I catch up to Fyre while she's having a water and snack break in a small shade little off the trail. The trail climbs through a burn area so there's very little shade to be found. We sit on a log and talk about the others, wondering where they are and how we miss them.

As we're almost up we get back on the hot trail and start hiking towards the top. We can already see it in the distance. I reach the top first and as I turn around the corner I just start yelling in joy. Fyre is just few steps behind me and as she sees what I'm seeing, she starts yelling as well. We see a long line of tall, snow capped mountains. The Sierra Nevada mountain range. Our next destination.

The desert section is so close to the end and finally seeing the Sierra makes it feel so much more real. We can't believe we've made it this far.

From here we start the climb down to the last valley before the Sierra. Down there there's a small spot called Kennedy Meadows where all our Sierra gear is waiting for us. But we first have to reach it. Blis is pushing there already today, but we're fine getting there tomorrow and doing an easier day.

While seeing the mountains brought a smile on my face, it soon fades as the hot sun and trail melts me at every step. Even if we're going downhill, it still feels like I'm just draining energy. I rest at every possible shade but the trail just keeps going. 

Finally I see the valley ahead of me and start the last descent. At the bottom there's a small stream and a camp site but very little shade. Fyre's already there. I drop myself and my gear in the shade and complain about the heat.

More hikers show up and we talk about the rumors that there's a bear that comes up to this campsite. While others head on to different sites closer to Kennedy Meadows, we stay here with Fyre as it's the one where our friends probably will make it tonight. It's the only spot where they could camp unless they'll do a really short day.

As others leave, we set up our cowboy camps quite close to each other, just in case there's any truth behind those bear rumors.

As Fyre heads out to "little girls room", I stay in the camp and start making evening snacks. After I get my food bag from my backpack I turn around and right behind me I see a large creature looking at me. A black bear less than 30 feet from me on the stream. I freeze.

I start going through all the things to do when encountering a bear in my head. The first thing I remember is yelling. Then I remember Fyre is somewhere out there in the brush. So I yell "Um, Fyre, there's a bear in here!". I hear a "what?" from not far. "A BEAR!" I yell.

I turn back to the bear and just as I'm about to yell at her, I remember, a photo! No one's going to believe me without a photo. Luckily my camera is right next to me and I quickly take two photos. I'm certain that she knows I'm there but she starts coming closer so I yell at her. No reaction. I yell louder and also yell at Fyre as the bear is moving to her direction. Again no reaction from the bear. She doesn't seem to be afraid of humans at all. Not good.

She's now about 20 feet from me so I take a large rock and throw it as close to her as I dare. As the rock is leaving my hand I start thinking how wise it is to anger a huge furry beast who's that close to me, thinking she can charge the gap between us before I can even start yelling out "mommy".

The rock hits a pile of rocks next to her and she jumps and retreats back to the stream. Thank god. But she's still way too close for comfort. I keep yelling at her but as there's no reaction, I throw another rock at her. It lands right next to her in the stream and she retreats to the brush. Fyre comes over right as the bear disappears from view.

I can still hear her not far and we decide that we're not camping here. As she's still close by, looking at us from the brush, I chase her off one more time. She still doesn't go far, but far enough that we feel safe to back up our things.

As we're leaving we leave a note for the others about the bear. It will be completely dark when they get here but hopefully they'll see it.

As we climb out of the camp the light starts to fade and it starts to get dark. We take out our headlamps and hike on. We make jokes that the only thing missing from this would be to run into a rattlesnake tonight. Less than fifteen minutes later I jump as there's a rattlesnake right next to the trail preying. Great!

We decide not to make any more jokes about any animal encounters and move on, giving the snake enough space. Two miles out we find a perfect spot and we set up our camp again.

Tomorrow we hit the Kern river in the morning and then make our way to Kennedy Meadows and officially end the PCT desert section. It's time for the Sierras! And I got to see a bear!