Early rise today. I’m so pumped to get into Kennedy Meadows and end this segment.
Ate a breakfast of “fun size” snickers bars and butterfingers. It would be more “fun” if they were a little bigger. The world needs some cynical marketing. I propose “Starvation Size”.
Found some Tang powder at the bottom of my bag. One of the gals woke up and threw me a melted Kind bar. I’m down to one package of Ramen noodles for the day. At least my pack is a lot lighter.
The girl group was just getting up when I dropped my tent. One of them was playing this goofy song called “Business Time” by Flight of the Conchords. Too much estrogen in this campsite. Packed, strapped, and hit the trail at 6 am.
I decided to rack my trekking poles today. Felling more confident in my leg and I want knock down the miles. First thing was a climb from 6.5k to 8k over a couple of miles. Had my music on and was in the zone, trying to keep my pace under control so I making miles but not breaking a sweat. Looked back at my trace and saw I was averaging 3+ mph uphill. Looming starvation is a good motivator.
Somewhere along the way Espresso said “Hi”. Scared the crap out of me. She wanted to pass, then later I caught up with her. We hiked together for 3 hours.
Espresso is a Corporate over-achiever who used to run a patient survey organization in a large midwestern hospital group. She’s also run 9 (I think) marathons. Was fascinating getting into the business of Medicare/Medical reimbursement incentives (really a penalty) based on patient survey results.
The deal is that a hospital is required to request a patient’s response on a standard set of questions following their discharge. Stuff about attention from the medical staff, pain management (which I think is bullshit), how clearly the medical options were explained, etc. If the annual results fall below some threshold, then the Government claws back 2% of their hospitalization payments.
There are all sorts of strategies they have applied to improve these scores which include time logs requiring hourly visits to the patient and even scripting the words the staff uses with the patient so they more closely match the words in the survey. That one is called “scripting”. Sounded to me like yet another misguided corporate initiative that dehumanizes the way we treat staff and patients. The other side of this is the patient. What if they guy is a meth addict responding to the survey vs a rational law abiding farmer. They each get the same vote, but one is much more likely to be a douchebag. If I was a nurse, I’d hate this system.
It was interesting that she said most dramatic improvement came when they started asking the staff what they needed instead of telling what to say/do. Suggested some interesting reading in a book called “Patients Come Second”. That is going on reading list.
Anyway, we hit a bunch of other topics. She was a great hiking partner. We were both surprised how much mileage we knocked down. Espresso’s wife is driving an RV supporting her as she goes up the trail. They are going to reunite in Lone Pine. Hopefully I’ll run into them some time up the trail.
Landed at Manter Creek around 10 am. 10 miles before 10. Back in the groove. Sat down and made my last meal of Ramen. I just dumped everything I had left in my condiments baggie. Hot sauce, soy sauce, some parmesan packets, and a beef bullion cube. Espresso gave me some kind of squirt bottle flavoring with caffeine. That was a win.
Others started showing up ready to rest for the last segment. Rise and Shine, Snakebite, Cake, Land Mammal, Sinatra, bunch of others. Espresso took of with some of them and I pulled out a few minutes later.
Trail continued to drop after Manter. The highlight of the day was turning a corner and seeing the South Fork of Kern River. Soooooo much water. After drinking out of trickling streams and plastic pipes, this is the finally the real deal.
Passed Rise, Shine, and Snakebite sitting on a rock. Probably thinking the same thing. A mile later I ran into a gal south bounding. She was from Mammoth and told me about a recent storm that dropped another 4 to 8 inches of snow. Snowing in June. FML. My hike is cursed with snow.
Rise, Shine, and Snakebit caught up with me and we hiked together for a while. One of them does promotional work for various equipment brands of which one was Gregory. My backpack is a Gregory and it is rare to see this pack on the PCT since it is designed for heavier loads. She took some pics from behind me. Maybe Salty J’s backside will show up in a promotional brochure some day.
Crossed mile 700! The gals wanted a picture so they just flopped down in the dirt while I took it for them. I got one as well. They all stand up covered in dirt from neck to foot. Then Snakebite walks a couple feet away to pee behind/beside a 2 foot bush while her friends sit back down in the dirt. I’m impressed. Frankly I can’t stand to be that dirty and I’m even a little more modest on my peeing venues. Women are going to dominate the world soon.
I left them and walked the rest of the way to Kennedy Meadows Camp ground. It was so gratifying walking up to the store at 2 PM. Folks there applaud each hiker as they come in. We all know this is a big milestone. Did 21 miles in 8 hours.
I ran into Bottom, the German guy I met before Big Bear. He was out on an injury for a while. Got to know him a bit. He was born in East Germany before the wall came down and has since relocated to Munich. I wanted to probe that some more, but I kept getting distracted by his goofy trail stories. What a character.
Met some others I knew, Juniper, Unicorn, Capt Underpants, Murphy’s Law, and others. I bought a couple of 12 packs over course of the day and left them on my table. Cans of beer are friend magnets.
There is no cell service and the internet connection is useless. But plenty of food if you have the coin. Ate several burgers, a bag of chips, a bunch of chocolate, and drank way too many beers. Setup the tent at 9 and just before I went to sleep I checked my InReach for messages. Have a family emergency.
My buddy Darrell offered to pick me up and bring me home tomorrow. I didn’t get much sleep that night….