PCT, Day 46

I start at 7 today. It's only 14 km to Kennedy Meadows, but it feels much longer. I am so glad when I finally arrive at the general store. Behind it, people can set up their tents, and there is an outdoor shower and a washing machine. I set up my tent and then order a veggie burger and fries. Lots of hikers are here. This is the starting point of the Sierras. We will need our ice axes, crampons, bear cans, and resupply. It is about 500 km to go through the Sierras, which contain the highest mountains in the US. After the first couple of days, every day involves climbing and crossing a pass, and there is still a lot of snow. Resupply will be difficult. One has to hike out of the wilderness up to 20 km, then hitchhike to a town, resupply, and walk those 20 km back to the trail.

But before I can enter the Sierras, I have to organize a lot of stuff. First, I will go to Ridgecrest tomorrow morning to find a gastroenterologist. Then I have to wait for new shoes since the ones I just got are falling apart.

I will have to rent a bear can and get crampons, and figure out how to attach that huge bear can to my backpack. Resupply is necessary too, and then I need to figure out how to walk the Sierras. It is not only the snow problem—it also melts, meaning there will be lots of river crossings that will get more and more dangerous with the melting snow.

I am glad to be out of the desert, but the Sierras are humbling me a lot!

At some point there is a strange kind of plane in the sky. Turns out it is a stratolaunch. A plane that can launch rockets into the orbit. The small thing on the left close to it is a drone:

The next picture shows the path into the Sierras. I pass the trailhead for now to walk the road to Kennedy Meadows General Store.

The following pictures of the outside of the General Store were taken the next morning. Otherwise there would have been only hikers in the picture. Here people get ready for the Sierras.