Day 39 - Saturday, June 5

Cowboy camping in a large camping area (mile 715.0).  Walked 12.8 miles today.

Woke up about the same time as yesterday and slowly packed up, organized my stuff, and tried to get it all in my pack with my bear can.  I was successful!  I had to put some things in new places, but it's all attached or in my bag.  Went to hang out on the porch of Grumpy's and a group of us chatted about some of our interesting pooping-in-the-woods stories.  Not an unusual pre-breakfast topic among hikers.

JPRO joined us for breakfast.  He had been hiking with us a few days ago, but had dropped back because he's pink blazing - that's when a guy deliberately alters his pace (either faster or slower) with the intention of trying to hook up with a female hiking companion.  The girl he's chasing after (Eco) hasn't arrived here yet and we have no idea when she'll show up.  We gave him some shit for pink blazing but he took it in stride.  Got the breakfast burrito this morning and I also ate some of Heather's hash browns and pancakes.

After breakfast, AB, Frank, Jedi, and I all made final preparations and then arranged a ride from the Fossil Lady (she gave Snowflake, Lost and Found, and I rides to and from scissors crossing).  When she pulled into the parking lot, she was dropping off a hiker at Grumpy's.  It was none other than Eco, so JPRO will be happy I'm sure.  The Fossil Lady brought us to the trailhead and we hiked out about 10:30 am.

A couple miles down the trail, there was a couple doing some trail magic as well as a couple of PCTA volunteers who were answering questions about the trail ahead.  We hung out there for a bit before we pushed on.  It was only getting hotter out and we climbed up.  Got to the crossing of the South Fork of the Kern River and got some water.

We then went up to the next water source where we found a large group of hikers congregated around it.  Temps got even hotter and shade disappeared as we pushed farther up the mountain. I thought we were done with the heat but that's not the case apparently.

Got to the next water and found a couple of stoner section hikers there.  Sure Foot, Magnet, Microbe, Hulk, Narrator, and a couple others gathered under some shade by the river.  After a bit, Frank, Sure Foot, and I pushed on and Sure Foot complained to us about the section hikers (they had been bragging about how their hiking companion can do 25-mile days and Sure Foot's complaint was that everyone else out here can do that as well). The thru-hiker superiority complex is real...

We all hiked up the saddle and then down into a pine forest.  Frank and I stopped at a campsite we had talked about camping at tonight, and did some stretching.  After about half an hour, AB and Jedi showed up and we hung for a bit before deciding to move on.  We chose a campsite 2.4 miles ahead as our goal.

Almost immediately, we walked into a meadow that AB and Jedi had been hyping for the last two days.  They've hiked parts of the trail previously and they both felt like this meadow was when they felt like they were really in the Sierra. 

To me, it was only ok.  At least at first it was.  About halfway through, it really felt like we had finally reached the Sierra.  We hiked in and gave some water to Fabio, a hiker who was trying to reach the river ahead but was low on water.  Also passed the two stoner hikers again.  They were trying to find their companion who was ahead of them.  For some reason, they decided to turn back even though they knew she had been ahead of them.

Got to camp and wandered around to find a campsite as there were plenty to choose from.  We all cooked dinner and then settled in next to each other to cozily cowboy camp together.  The stoner guy's companion showed up asking if we'd seen them.  We told her what they had done and she went off after them.

About 10pm, the companion of the stoner guys came into camp, having hiked way back, found them, and brought them up to a campsite near where we were.  Don't do drugs kids...

Already, we've seen more people (day/section hikers) today than the rest of the trail combined which is apparently only a taste of how crowded the trail will be.