Episode 59 - PCT Update #7

Kennedy Meadows —> Kearsarge Pass (+ Whitney!)

Day #: 52

Total Miles Hiked: 790

Miles remaining: 1860

Percentage done: 29.8%

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My oh my, what a week it’s been! The first few days in the Sierras have been beautiful, with tons of granite peaks, lush meadows, and delightful pine trees. On Friday, our thru-hiking group summited Mt. Whitney, the tallest mountain in America; Saturday, we climbed over Forester Pass, the highest pass on the entire PCT; and now, we’ve been resting in Bishop for two days before pushing on to Mammoth. The elevation profile of each day looks like a sawtooth blade, and I’ve never felt more fit. Life is good.

As always, please feel free to mail letters, postcards, mail, or care packages! I always get so excited heading to the post office, and the next one will be in Tuolumne Meadows, all the way in Yosemite! I’ll be there in about a week, and I can’t wait to see what you send. Thank you so much to everyone who’s sent me packages, post cards, and letters so far. Fred and Peggy, your letter and pictures made my day!

Address:

PCT Hiker — Dennis Gavrilenko

c/o General Delivery

Tuolumne Meadows

Yosemite National Park, CA 95389

Arriving by: 7/11

Let’s go!

If this is your first episode and you’re thinking “what in the world is happening right now”, start here!

On top of Whitney!

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Day 44, Monday 6/23/2025:

Today we hiked a relaxed 8.5 miles with 1500 feet of climbing. We’re back on trail, and this time we have a tramily! Flo, Pablo, Zoe, Brooke and I are hiking the Sierras together, and I couldn’t be more excited.

After departing the Kennedy Meadows General Store to uproarious applause (arriving hikers get a standing ovation, and I managed to convince the others to give us a departing ovation too!), our squad of 4 set off on trail. Zoe had left at 2 pm and was waiting for us at camp already, so we had some catching up to do.

The hiking was stunning, and so much fun. The meadows and mountains were beautiful, and I had the best time chatting with Pablo the entire afternoon. We talked about patriotism, French life, family, our unexpectedly very positive relationship with boredom (so many thoughts on this!), and managing relationships with hiking partners on trail. We also stopped at the Kennedy Meadows Campground to sign the trail register, where I left a mini bag of chips for Tiny (it’s an inside joke at this point) and had the best bathroom experience on trail so far. It was a pit toilet with wet wipes, hand sanitizer, a fresh new white toilet seat, and a huge roll of toilet paper suspended by paracord. 10/10 experience.

Pablo and I also found 3 geocaches, his first three finds ever! All were size regulars (nice!), and I’m excited to help Pablo make an account when we arrive in Bishop in just a short week. It’s going to be amazing! Geocaching is such a wonderful way to pass the time and take breaks while hiking, though there won’t be too many in the coming weeks since the High Sierra national parks and wilderness areas don’t allow physical caches to be hidden within the park. That makes pretty good sense to me since geocaching is basically managed litter, and they don’t want any litter at all.

The best part is, first geocache that we found was a large PVC pipe; Ceci n’est pas une pipe, it’s a geocache! Also, the last geocache we found had a mini American flag, which I happily took in celebration of the 4th of July coming up and subsequently planted into the ground at our campsite. Move over, Neil Armstrong.

Us 4 made it to camp as it was getting dark (greeted by a massive hug from Zoe, who got there a few hours before), and we had a wonderful dinner with us all sitting in a circle with our bear cans. The company is amazing, and life is so good. I can’t wait for these next few weeks; Hudson keeps telling me about how beautiful this stretch of the PCT is, and I’m sure it’s going to be even more breathtaking than I could ever imagine :)

Day 45, Tuesday 6/24:

Today we hiked 21 miles with 4500 feet of climbing. We’re officially in the Sierras now, and it’s even more gorgeous than I could’ve imagined. Meadows, mountains, river, the whole shabang. It’s amazing.

Brooke and I woke up around 7:30, and Zoe had already left camp. Looks like it’s time to show off my trail name (Bloodhound) and chase her down! Flo and Pablo left around 8, Brooke at 8:30, and I at 9; I spent the morning proofreading my previous blog post to Kennedy Meadows, and I’m very happy and proud with how it turned out. And I must add that when I told Pablo “á tout!”, he smiled like crazy and was so so happy.

The morning scenery started off good, and only became even more stunning. The first few miles climbed through a pass, at the top of which was an uninterrupted view of a giant Sierran meadow. I descended down into the basin, caught up with Brooke, and lounged with her in the grass for 30 minutes, watching the butterflies and fighter jets (?) fly overhead. One of the butterflies was this beautiful beautiful shade of blue. We filtered some water, and I carried on ahead to our lunch spot.

Now that we’ve entered the Sierras, we’re required to carry a bear can to protect our food against bears and other critters, large and small. It’s required to have one until just Lake Tahoe, but today, I was considering that I might want to keep mine until the very end. There are a few reasons as to why: 1) you can sit nicely on them (you may remember the camp chair dilemma I had a few weeks back, and the bear can solves that problem), 2) I’ve become a pro at packing my bag with a bear can and I love how it squishes down my backpacking quilt at the bottom of my Hyperlite (I don’t put the quilt into its bag because I’m protecting the down), and 3) you can put really cool stickers on it.

It also is helpful against hungry bears, but the funny thing is I literally didn’t even consider that point until Brooke told me.

For lunch, we stopped at the lovely wooden bridge crossing the South Fork Kern River, under which live several hundred swallows. I spent a good while watching them all fly around and feed their little babies in the mud nests, enjoyed a delicious ramen + olive oil lunch with Brooke, and took a short nap. Life is amazing.

The big climb of the day came right after lunch: 2500 feet over 7 miles, and maxing out well over 10,500 feet; it’s the first time we’ve been this high since San Jacinto, and we’ll be spending lots of time up here in the heavens! The climb started off gradual out of the meadow, and it was beautiful forests, trickling creeks, and granite boulders the entire ascent. It was pretty slow going with the elevation definitely getting to me, but about 3 hours later I made it to the top! Brooke and I celebrated with some hot chocolate, a Snickers, and me giving Brooke an impromptu back massage. I’ll take nominations for boyfriend of the year at this time.

In other news, some critter ate all of my honey roasted almonds last night after I forgot to put them in the bear can. I went to take the almonds out my backpack’s back webbing pouch around 2 pm, and the bag was completely empty! Upon closer examination I found chew marks at the bottom of the bag and all the almonds gone; fortunately, the chipmunk didn’t actually chew through my backpack itself, but rather crawled through the webbing, ate the almonds, and left all the honey sugar coating untouched. How considerate!

There were 7 more miles for the day; 4 descending, 3 flat. Mental energy was plummeting faster than our elevation (what a line), but the Acquired IKEA podcast, some banger music, and a few more French lessons kept me in relatively high spirits. Brooke and I rolled into camp around 7:15, where Flo, Pablo, and Zoe were waiting for us. They’d just arrived ~20 minutes earlier, so we all had dinner together, ate some of Emily’s pound of dark chocolate, chatted about how excited we are to summit Whitney, and planned our hike to Chicken Creek Lake tomorrow. What a name.

I also enlightened them about my post-poop habit of placing a rock over the buried business, and advised them to ~never~ move a rock to dig a cat hole themselves. Who knows what they might find!

Day 46, Wednesday 6/25:

Another 20 miles today with 4500 feet of climbing. We are camping at Chicken Spring Lake, and we’re officially in the High Sierra!

And my oh my, was it a cold morning! Brooke and I woke up at 6 to have an early start, but it was so cold that we took forever getting ready. There was frost on the tent, everything was chilly, and even my American flag was frozen upright. The Sierras are no joke! I hate the cold.

Brooke and I left at 7:30 this morning, and cruised uphill for a few miles before reaching a pretty overlook of Owen’s Valley. There was enough service for me to call the Acton post office, so we stopped there for a break, made same tea, and I called the already-tired postal worker on the phone. Apparently, my extra Hyperlite strap never arrived there (they forgot to put one on my bag, so I’m getting a free one per the warranty), so I sent them an email to ask what’s up.

Eventually, the rest of the group showed up. First came Zoe, then Pablo, then two Jewish hikers doing a section hike up to Tahoe. We all shared chocolates and lots of laughter, then we all dispersed to continue down the mountain. I even had my very first fully French conversation with Pablo! I can only discuss very simple mood things and where we’re from, but hey, we’re doing this thing!

The descent was nice and long, and I got a few more shirt signatures along the way; two from a Korean couple (the wife signed in Korean, the man as “Dr. Wagyu”), and one from a little girl backpacking with her mom. They’re from Utah, but just moved to Dallas last year right after the solar eclipse. The mom was so excited about the shirt-signing situation, and took a ton of pictures.

At the bottom of the descent, I met up with brooke and Zoe to have a lovely afternoon lunch by the river. It was more ramen today, but fortunately it’s not getting old yet as the olive oil and sriracha add a ton of great flavor. Brooke and Zoe left well before me, I took a long break in the shade.

Now that we’re in the Sierras, everything is firmly up or down, and we climb some mountain pass every single day. Today was no different, and I spent the next 9 miles climbing out of the river basin up to Chicken Spring Lake, well above the tree line. Morale was a little bit low as I was once again at the back of the pack, but I quickly ran into a large Polish family who all happily and excitedly signed my shirt. Everyone I’ve met so far has been loving this idea!

There were two geocaches on the map today; one right off the trail, another at the top of a mountain that the PCT walked under. I wasn’t planning on finding the mountain cache as it’d be another 2+ hour detour, but I figured I’d make that decision when I was near the base.

Once at the base, I found myself in quite the cheerful mood, so I decided to drop off my pack on trail, shorten my trekking poles to 115 cm, and start the 700 foot ascent to the top of Trail Peak. Boy, am I glad I did that! Not only was the geocache itself an ammo can, the summit register was another ammo can, too! I retrieved 5 (!) trackables from the geocache (which hadn’t been found in 1.5 years), called my mom, published my Kennedy Meadows blog, and called it a day. A truly delightful decision there.

Upon descent, I extended my trekking poles to the maximum 130 cm and flew down back to my bag, donned it, and carried on to Chicken Spring Lake. I passed Jeanette (who signed my shirt yesterday and asked if I went to Ucla because she saw my Ucla parking hat; thanks again, Tallis!), two more hikers, found another geocache (another ammo can, hidden in memory of the CO’s son, which had an entire pack of anti-bacterial wet wipes that I happily grabbed), and continued flying up the mountain. I arrived as the sun was setting, and there was everyone! Not just our group of 5, but about a dozen hikers in total. We all ate dinner together with so much laughter with the most beautiful scenery ever; Chicken Spring Lake is stunning, and it finally looks like we’re in the High Sierra. The comradely we’ve been feeling on trail is nothing short of wonderful.

Update about my farts, since I know you were wondering: They’re starting to smell like beef jerky again; it must be all these chocolate z-bars I’ve been eating. A later fart in the tent smelled like colored Goldfish. What is happening.

Another note: Pablo and Flo love their midday nap time on trail, so I had apparently passed them while they were napping in the woods, and then they passed my bag while I was up on Trail Peak. lol

Day 47, Thursday 6/26:

Today was a chill 17 miles with only 2500 feet of climbing. We’ve made it to Crabtree Meadows, and are summiting Whitney tomorrow! The tallest mountain in America! I can’t wait!

The morning was so much more pleasant than yesterday, because despite the fact we were 2000 feet higher in elevation and at an alpine lake, it was much much warmer this morning. Plus, we had a shorter distance to go today and it was mostly downhill, so we all slept in and woke up at a relaxed 7:30. Fantastic stuff.

Flo, Pablo, Zoe, Brooke, and I spent the morning chatting, then they all slowly but surely departed on to the meadows. I was laying on my sleeping bad until 8:30, writing this blog, and simply having the best time ever. I love this sleeping pad and my quilt, they’re so wonderful.

In other news, Brooke’s Alfredo dinner yesterday was quite messy, and was bubbling over the jetboil like a demonic witch soup. She then realized she cooked too much for herself, and subsequently spent the next 10 minutes asking everyone around camp if they wanted some, too. Pablo and Flo reluctantly took some. There was also the (un)fortunate side benefit that some Alfredo had burnt itself to the bottom of the bowl (that Brooke’s job to clean, I’m not touching it!), so brooke filled up the bowl with water to let the burnt crust soften overnight before cleaning it in the morning.

Fortunately for her, a chipmunk had come in the night and eaten all the leftover Alfredo crust in the bottom of the jetboil! Amazing! We boiled some water in there to sanitize it (no thanks, bubonic plague!), wiped it some more with my recently acquired geocaching anti-bacterial wipes, and called it a day. Thank you chipmunk for saving us some cleaning! Brooke only worried about the bubonic plague for the entire morning until an NPS ranger let her know it was probably fine. Crisis averted.

I spent most of the day hiking alone, and it was  delightful change of pace with my own thoughts and appreciating the beautiful High Sierra landscapes. It was 10 miles to Rock Creek, the first river ford crossing in the Sierras and the planned destination of our lunch. After taking a selfie with Zoe and Brooke with the Sequoia National Park sign (our first one on trail!), I zoomed on ahead, passing dozens of hikers and having the best time ever. I made it to the canyon bottom by noon, ate some delicious ramen, and took a dip in the FREEZING river. Later on my hike out of the canyon, I saw the Rock Creek ranger and begged him to check my permit. I’ve been carrying this piece of paper for 750 miles now, and I want it to be checked as much as possible before I get to Canada.

Saw my first marmot today, they’re these giant mountain beaver squirrels. Awesome!

While descending down into Crabtree Meadows, I met a lady hiking southbound who was excited to sign my shirt. I chatted with her for a bit, and it turned out that she was on a weeklong trip with two ultra runner friends, but abandoned after the very first day because she was completely exhausted and ready to be done. She’d only backpacked a max of 5 miles a day before, and here she was, pushing 20 miles in the High Sierras with two extreme friends. Since she had a bunch of extra time now, I recommended she head up to the White Mountains to check out the Bristlecone Pine Forest (oldest trees on Earth!), and of course plugged in Schatt’s and the Mammoth Gear Exchange in Bishop. I hope she makes it.

It was a few more miles until the tremendously scenic Crabtree Meadow, which I flew through to get to camp as early as possible. I made it to the ranger station by 4 pm, relaxed a bit in the very comfortable rocking chair on the porch, and peeked my head through the window to see what the ranger living situation was like since he was out of patrol. It was SO nice in there, with a full stove, bed, and a lovely bookshelf. I’d live there in a heartbeat.

I set up the tent in a lovely clearing, and everyone in our group slowly trickled in. We chatted with some of the other hikers (including Rabbit, who hiked 53 miles from Kennedy Meadows to summit Whitney in one push!) and even explained geocaching to another hiker named Skunk. Looks like I’ve converted someone! The highlight of the meadow was the privy, which was just a toilet seat surrounded by three wooden walls; the fourth side was completely open to the elements, providing a lovely forest view while you drop the kids off at the pool. Fortunately, there were no bear sightings. 10/10 experience again!

Went to bed early today at 8 pm, planning on waking up at 1:30 to make it to the summit of Whitney by sunrise. We’re doing this thing!

Day 48, Friday 6/27:

21 miles today with 5500 feet of climbing. Today is the big day! Whitney day! It is finally here!

Our group had been looking forward to summiting for many weeks now; Whitney is the tallest mountain in America, and though it’s not actually on the PCT, our permits allow us to hike up to the top and turn straight around (we can’t descend down the Whitney Portal unless we want a lovely fine). The plan was to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to watch the sunrise from the summit, which meant we had to leave at what Joe Bishop would call “oh dark 30”.

Brooke et al woke up at 12:30 am and left at 1, while I luxuriously slept in until 1:30 and left at 1:50. I had the group to catch!

And my oh my, was it the greatest morning ever! My pack weighed nothing (I left everything except what I needed for the summit ascent in the tent, which was just one water bottle and snacks), and was absolutely flying up the mountain. It was tremendous; the stars were twinkling, the Milky Way was stretched across the sky, I could see the line of headlamps stretched up ahead of me on the mountainside. It is spectacular. Here am I now, at 2:52 am on the ascent to Whitney, sitting on a lovely granite boulder enjoying a chocolate z-bar, stargazing. If this isn’t nice, what is?

Around 3:30 I reached the switchbacks heading to the Whitney Portal junction, and that’s where I began zooming, passing other hikers left and right. Music in the ears, jolly ranchers in the mouth, pure vibes in the mind; it was fantastic. In retrospect, it was quite the move to ascend before sunrise because those switchbacks seem brutal in the daylight; there’s such a rough psychological impact of seeing a huge line of switchbacks stretch above you, and we completely avoided that problem by hiking up in the dark. No vision, no problem!

I reached the summit around 5 am, where Pablo, Flo, Brooke, Rabbit, Free Lunch, and many others were waiting at the summit. Brooke was the first woman at the top! The horizon was already starting to turn red, and it was the most beautiful view of the trip so far; eventually, the sun’s tiny circle rose above the mountains, and we were all treated to a beautiful sunrise. We took out our backpacking quilts, took some lovely summit photos with the metal sign (crazy that someone carried that all the way up!m here!), and best of all, enjoyed the summit beer that I had carried all the way from Kennedy Meadows. Tiny had given it to me days ago, and I’d been looking forward to drinking it at the top of America all week. Wow!

After spending an hour watching the sunrise, chatting with friends, and geocaching, Brooke and I began our descent back to camp around 7 am. It was delightful; brooke and I summited the nearby Muir Peak (another 14er with a crazy scramble at the top!), saw a pika (alpine mouse), and chatted with Rox, another PCT hiker. He was saying that he’d never been higher in his life, and then proceeded to tell me in great detail how excited he is for all of the dispensaries in Bishop. I was trying so hard not to laugh because clearly, this man gets quite high all of the time.

I must also add that all of the trail signs in Sequoia National Park have been very crisp and well made, and as a former plaque designer myself, I respect them tremendously.

We also met a ton of day hikers on the descent, and I found this weird mental feeling happening every time I’d chat with them. Later, I realized that it was that I feel much more elite as a thru-hiker, and subsequently feel cooler than a day hiker. They’re out here huffing and puffing up the mountain with their tiny day packs, while us thru-hikers walked 60 miles with all our things just to then hike up another peak. These day hikers just drove to the parking lot lol. (Obviously day hikers are impressive too, I just feel cooler than them, we PCTers are an elite folk it seems)

Brooke and I made it back to Crabtree Meadows around noon, and crashed immediately (I did some lovely river laundry first). We woke back up at 4, coordinated where to camp that night with our hiker friends, and proceeded another 6 miles up trail to our final destination. The mosquitoes were horrific at the rivers, so we carried on to higher elevation where there were less bugs. As soon as we got to camp, I set up the tent as quickly as possible, threw everything in there, and hid there until dinner time. Whoever invented mosquitoes is an idiot.

And on the topic of mosquitoes, I’ve found that wearing my Patagucci rain jacket is an excellent guard against them. That, plus my REI pants, truly makes a mosquito-proof duo. There’s also the pleasant fact that since my pants are green and my rain jacket is orange, I’m basically an inverted carrot. And yes Alexandra, Brooke told me all about the relevant Catalina reference.  :)

What a strange but wonderful day!

Also, I saw a rock that looks just like a butthole today. Crazy stuff:

Day 49, Saturday 6/28:

18 miles today with 3900 feet of climbing. Today, we hiked up the highest official point on the PCT, Forester Pass (Whitney isn’t technically on the PCT, read above). We’re basically hiking over a mountain pass a day here in the High Sierra, and it is both exhausting and exhilarating. Forester just so happens to be the highest one, and the boundary between Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks!

Since it’s such an epic and famous pass, I naturally decided that I wanted to set the KOM for it on Strava and gain eternal glory for myself. I hiked a bit in the morning with Brooke over some stunning Whitney and other High Sierra viewpoints, appreciated some alpine plateaus, saw ANOTHER marmot, and then began accelerating on the descent and warming up the legs. The pants and rain jacket came off, the legs and sun hoodie came out, and I was in the zone. The climb officially started when you cross Tyndall Creek, which I forded without breaking stride, impressing the group of hikers taking a break on the other side. I didn’t even stop, but just continued zooming ahead.

1 hour and 40 minutes later, I made it to the summit, and later learned that it was the second fastest time ever recorded. Holy shit. LET’S GOOOOOO! I rewarded myself with a delightful ramen lunch overlooking the valley the trail climbed out of (stunning), chatted with the Swedes who’s made it up there too, saw another marmot (I love marmots so much), and then began the chill descent to camp.

It was delightful; it was 9 miles of downhill straight through a perfectly sculpted and U-shaped glacial valley (one minor glissade too), which I flew down and was loving the entire time. Took a dip in an alpine lake, took tons of pictures, appreciated the greatest view I’d ever seen in my entire life at the end of the final switchback up the mountain, and made it to camp by 3:30 pm. That’s a record for me! I was the first one there, so I set up the tent, ate some more snacks, and decided to take an impromptu bath in the creek. No one was behind me for miles, so I figured it’d be completely fine.

A minute later, I hear “nice cheeks brother” and see two southbound JMT make hikers flying down the mountain. I’m so embarrassed. Here was I completely naked, but fortunately they brushed it off, laughed, and said “we get it, we did the same thing yesterday”. What a situation. I ran back to the tent to avoid the mosquitoes and more hikers (I looked down at my thigh once and found 20 mosquitoes chilling there 🤢), watched American Psycho until Brooke showed up (what a strange movie), ate dinner with Brooke, Pablo, and Flo, and went to bed early after an exhausting day.

We’re in the home stretch now! Town day tomorrow! Real food! Yay!

Day 50, Sunday 6/29:

Chill 8 miles with a not chill 1500-foot climb over Kearsarge Pass. We’ve made it to Bishop!

Last night, I had a dream that I found a bunch of instant coffee pods in a hiker box, and I was so happy in that dream. Clearly, you can tell when my priorities lie these days; coffee ran out two days ago, and I can’t wait for my first cup back.

Today was the day we finally make it to Bishop, and more importantly, to Schat’s Bakery. Brooke had been talking about Schat’s for ~200 miles now and telling every person we’ve met about it, so I’ve been salivating thinking about these sandwiches for days now.

The only thing in the way? Kearsarge Pass. I’m no stranger to passes (we do one a day at this point), but it was surprisingly brutal to climb the 1500 feet up to the top and then descend down. Fortunately, we were treated to some beautiful lake views on both sides of the pass (include Big Pothole Lake and Gilbert Lake, hi Gilbert!), and I had a lovely time chatting with the large group of Silicon Valley Indians chilling at the pass sign; one of them was struggling so much that I carried her bag a quarter mile to the top.

Once at the top, brooke and I ate some snacks, bailed on our let’s-find-a-geocache-at-the-random-mountain-peak-summit plan, and quickly began descending with everyone to the Onion Valley trailhead. And who did we see on the descent? AUSTIN!!!!! He’d come all the way from LA to meet us on trail, and brought brooke and I cold beers to enjoy for the last few miles until camp. We chatted the entire way down (he’s racing an Iron Man in Estonia in two months!), and he and his friend Bryan even gave us a ride all the way to Bishop. Wow. Simply amazing!

In Bishop, we devoured some delicious Schat’s, met up with Hudson (!!), and spent the rest of the day relaxing at the hostel. I also had to show off all my gear to Austin and Bryan (so fun); it is pretty crazy how few one needs on trail. We ate a large pizza for dinner with Pablo (where we also got a free 2-liter soda as trail magic 🙏), made a gas canister bomb with Merit (long story), and went to bed early. What an amazing day, and I can’t wait for this day off tomorrow. We’ve earned it!

And it was in the kitchen of this hostel that I approached by the dude working there asking “if I wanted to model for a drawing class”. Of course I said yes, which is how brooke and I became models for a charcoal drawing class at the hiker hostel in Bishop on a chill Sunday evening. You really can’t make this up; adventure can come from anywhere!

Important note: I saw another hiker wearing a really cool Jolly Gear sunshirt today, and I want one for my next thru-hike.

Day 51, Monday 6/30:

A full zero town day. THANK GOODNESS! The morning started off delightfully, with brooke taking me on a bagel and coffee date, tailored with an Adventure Lab walk and post office visit. I got a care package from my parents and a letter from Fred and Peggy. THANK YOU! I was so so so happy reading your letters and looking at the pictures, wow. You are the best!

The rest of the rest day (rest of the rest lol) flew by, with us visiting the Mammoth Gear Exchange, stressfully getting groceries, meeting up with my UCLA geology professor Kevin (what a side quest), barely fitting all the food into my backpack, and going to sleep early. Zoe’s friend is taking us back to the trailhead at 5 am, and then we’re back to reality!

And talking with Kevin was great; he’s teaching summer field up in the White Mountains, and was in Bishop for the afternoon. Of course, we had to meet up! He took brooke and I out to McFlurries (😋) and we passed hours regaling Brooke with tales of our geology exploits. The best part was brooke would tell Kevin in an exasperated voice about all the geology I’ve been teaching her (half grabens, mapping techniques, etc; translation: making her listen to), and I’d watch Kevin get more and more proud of how his student was explaining geology to others. Hilarious.

Day 52, Tuesday 6/31:

One last morning in Bishop. Wow! The initial plan was to leave at 5 am with Zoe’s AT friend, who was graciously driving us all the way to the trailhead. I, however, was feeling very bummed to be leaving the hostel so soon and really wanted to finish my blog before leaving, so I elected to stay behind and catch up this afternoon on trail.

Brooke et al left at 5 am, while I slept in until 7, had a slow morning eating yogurt on the patio, and polished up this delightful writing you’re reading now on the couch with coffee. The bus to Independence comes at 1, then I’m hitchhiking back to Onion Valley  and powering 12 miles to Rae Lakes. Story of my life but hey, that’s why they call me Bloodhound!

Thanks again for reading, and see y’all soon. Send mail or care packages to Tuolumne Meadows! I can’t wait!