The route down to Mammoth was not easy, but the route from here to the trail was even harder.   There was one bus per day which would get us to the closest town to Kennedy Meadows called InyoKern.   It would drop us at InyoKern’s landmark “Classic Burger”.  Guess that is the best Inyokern can do for a landmark anyway.

From there it was another 20 miles to Kennedy Meadows….and that is not a route  for hitching.    100 degrees in the desert waiting for hours just to see one car doesn’t sound like fun.   No bus service, no uber, no taxi.   It was time to look for a trail angel.   

There are several lists on the internet for trail angels by location.   I found a few in the area and started emailing.   Sure enough, within an hour a gal named April from Lake Isabella called me back.    She does a lot of hiker hosting and transport in the area.   She agreed to meet us at noon on the 16th.      

Surprisingly everything worked out perfectly.     Got up at 6, walked a couple miles to the bus pickup in Mammoth.    Had some breakfast, rode South to Inyokern with a collection of hikers and locals.   April picked us up just as we finished choking down Classic Burger’s finest.  

The ride with April was interesting.    She has been doing this stuff for a few years and has lots of stories.   She has a couple kids who seem to be used to all the chaos.  Soho gassed up her car then it was off to the races.    April drives, well, like a maniac.   On the way up the hill she is yapping away while speeding around blind curves laden with fallen rock from the hillside.   Lane management was not one of her strong suits either.    After a few minutes I just stopped worrying about it.  

The gal has a really good heart, but has had some tough times with her ex-husband, employment, etc.    She never asked for any money to take 2 hours out of her day to do this.   At the drop off, I gave her a C-note.    She tried to refuse it, then got all teary eyed.    Yet another wonderful soul helping PCT hikers.  

April drives off and the hiking starts.   Soho suggested 10 miles today, but I pushed for 14.    Feel like I’ve been off “work” for too long.   After being in NoCal/Oregon for so long, it bums me to be back in this crappy sand.    Feel like I’m going backward. 

 

At least the trail started ascending into some trees.   Of course there is plenty of burn around here in the sad little deserty mountain wannabe High Sierras.   

Hiking along with the music blasting, I crossed paths with another rattler.   This one was huge.   Thick as a coke can and hiding in a log with his nasty little snake face poking out on the trail.    God I F#5$g hate these things.   The snake recoiled into the log and wouldn’t come out even though I was banging the log with thrown rocks.   I could see his body  in the lower left, but didn’t come out in the picture very well.  I had to reroute a long way around him. 

After a couple climbs and short descents, the scenery got a little more interesting.   Huge meadows of grassland up here.  There are clusters of free ranging cows grazing.  

A little after 7pm, I made it to our campsite at the appropriately named Cow Creek.   Soho was already getting setup on a nice sandy spot next to the river.   There are dozens of swallows living under the bridge and they make constant passes next to us scooping up the bugs.   It is cool watching them, they sometimes fly inches above the water right in front of us.   Nice to have them around….the insects don’t stand a chance.  

The water is flowing fast, but is warm and tastes a little…uhh…cowish.   Made dinner and bedded down.   Was a good 14 miler today.  My damn feet hurt again, so I guess that is normal.