Beauty & the Beast (D-36 709.5 - 735.5; D-37 735.5

Beauty & the Beast (D-36 709.5 - 735.5; D-37 735.5 - 760)

All I can say is that Seirras are absolutely beautiful and very tough too. Meadows, rivers, creeks and steep climbs up mountains. Unlike the desert, the elevation gradients are higher and the trail is not uniform.

Here are a few pics:

Bridge over Kern River

Kennedy Meadows

Saw a few more snow plants...they are so pretty (& interesting - thanks Lisa & Ritu) that I had to share again

A change in signage

Signs now on trees, instead of boards

Crossing a meadow

View of Owens Valley from the crest @ 10650 ft where I camped on Day 36

Mountains all around and meadows

Chicken Spring lake - the first lake I have seen on PCT

Filtering water at the Lake

For those who have had Biscoff cookies on Delta airlines and loved them, there is now Biscoff butter. Love it!

Some more scenery

My campsite on D-37 with Rock Creek flowing next to the tentsite and deer walking around in the meadow

Data:

D-36

D-37

NOTE: Another feature of the Seirras is that there is essentially zero cell phone connectivity. In fact haven't had any signal since the day I left Kennedy Meadows. So, while I am writing these blogs in real-time, it will be 10-14 days or so before it will be posted online when I get back into town & you will be able to read them. So, till Musk's satellite-based cell service (Starlink?) becomes a reality in a couple of years, this is the best we have.

Comments

A thru-hike attempt... successful! (D-117: 2642.6 - 2653.6, D-117S (SOBO): 0 - 17.1, D-118S (SOBO): 17.1-30.6)

It is done! Finally, on August 10th, 2022, 117 days after I started at the US-Mexico border on April 16th, 2022, I reached the US-Canada border. Walked 2653.6 miles (4270.6 km) south-to-north through the states of California, Oregon and Washington. No bittersweet moments...just sweet relief to be done 😀. We were few of the lucky thru-hikers this year who were able to go south-to-north continuously without any interruptions. People who started even a couple of weeks earlier and maintained this pace hit a lot more snow in Seirras and a hell lot more in Washington, the latter being almost hike-stopping. By the time we got to Seirras, the snow was much more manageable, and almost all the snow had melted in Washington. People who started later or were slower have had to skip parts of Northern California due to forest fires. Even Oregon and Southern California have some fires starting already. Anyway, reached the northern terminus of the PCT yesterday morn...

More trail magic and a lesson learned (D-5)

The day was pleasant with lots of wind again, but the trail was mostly flat or gently uphill. It also went through a very large meadow with only grass and cows for miles around 🙂. My goal was to reach Warner Springs since I had seen this sign yesterday at Scissors Crossing. The shower, recharging & WiFi along with possible cold/hot drinks was very tempting. BTW, this is the first time I found out that there was a name - "bucket shower" & "bucket laundry" - for what I had thought was normal bathing and washing clothes all during my childhood in India 😀. Made it to Warner Springs after 23 miles, well before the 7 pm closing time. The Community Resource Center provides all these services for PCT hikers. Though the Center itself was closed (no cold/hot drinks alas), their grounds were open and showers/laundry/recharging were all available and I made full use of it. Very thankful to the Center! Sinks for laund...

Resupply (4 days to go)

(Finally gave up on HikerFeed app which seemed good on paper, but never worked properly for me 🙁) 10-day resupply in the bear canister, ready to ship - 7.6 kg / 16.8 lbs (gulp!) Already shipped the first box last week

A thru-hike attempt

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