We left Kennedy Meadows and with it, my friend Pinch who I hiked over 700 miles and 45 days with. It was very hard to leave but the pull of the sierra took me away. I headed out with Smokey and Juneau, two guys we had been hiking with off and on from the beginning. We put in big days starting the sierra and it was incredible. The lizards were replaced by chipmunks and the mellow terrain of the desert turned into high elevation changes. We were also carrying extra weight of more food, clothes, and a handy bear canister. It was tough but we made it through the first few days without too many complaints. The views were totally worth the pain. One day, as we hiked uphill a thunderstorm started brewing and it began to snow and rain. The thunder was slowly getting closer so we hunkered down under a large tree and debated on whether to wait it out, hike through it, or set up camp for the night. After an hour the thunder had subsided and we headed down into crabtree meadows where we were safe from the storm. We made it to the base of Mt. Whitney that night and planned for a days detour to summit the highest mountain in the lower 48. It took forever to climb the 4500 feet from our camp to the summit as we passed tons of day hikers struggling up with us. We hit the top around 2 pm and began taking pictures. As we did, the weather started to roll in and the snow came down hard. We took shelter in the small cabin at the top and were joined by four day hikers who warned us that the lightning had started. They waited a bit but decided they needed to head down before the trail was covered in snow. The three of us waited and started planning for a night on the top of Mt. Whitney in a thunderstorm. We got in our sleeping bags and slowly fell asleep. When we woke up a few hours later the sky had cleared and the sun was beating down on the mountain once more. We packed our things and headed down the eight and a half miles to where we had left most of our food and some gear. We made it back in the dark around 9:45 and were thankful to be back at 10,000 ft again. We slept in the next morning and then headed out, planning to hit Forester pass, the highest point on the PCT. Unfortunately we got there in the late afternoon and were plagued with soft and wet snow on the north side as we came down off the pass. It took us two hours to go less than two miles but it was so worth it. We slept in again the next day and then tried to dry out our wet gear. Four miles down the trail we hit a trail junction where Smokey and I were planning on leaving the PCT to head into town to resupply. Unfortunately Juneau was not and we had to part ways with him there. Over kersarge pass, Smokey and I got to the town of Independence and waited for a hitch into Bishop, a larger town with a better resupply. After almost an hour a man in a van pulled over and offered us a ride. We entered Chuck's van and were surprised by the foot of garbage covering every open space. He reassured us that it was his friends van that owned a local motel in Bishop. So naturally we ended up staying there. In town, we caught game five of the stanley cup (unfortunately), and got to go bowling for the evening (I won). We ended the night with some late night Micky D's and prepared for a nice relaxing zero. Only halfway through the sierra and loving every minute of it! Mile 788!
