Tehachapi to Kennedy Meadows

After 2 resting days in Tehachapi we felt ready for our last desert section on the PCT! But were we?

In the first 4 days there were only 3 water resources, which means we need to carry a lot of water, 6 liter at a time. It was heavy! And to get fast from one water resource to another we hiked like crazy.

We completed 27 miles on the first day. Stopped for a long break in the hot hours to avoid walking in the heat.

Maybe an excuse to Roi and Shredder to play together :)

On our second day we passed the 600 miles sign. It felt good for a second, but the minute the camera was back to its bag, the smiles were gone... We still had a long way ahead of us.

The scenery kept changing from extremely desert like views to small pine forests. Either way it was hot!

I was thinking about the book I read just before we started hiking the PCT, 'Wild'. Her PCT experience started just here, in this awful section. What a miserable way to start...

After hiking about 23 miles on the second day, we bumped into a nice surprise - a water cache! Happy and relax we decided to hike only one more mile for that day.

On our third day the wind decided to give us an extra challenge, as if we weren't tired enough... It was the strongest wind we experienced so far on the PCT and maybe our entire life. I literally flew off the trail few times!!!

My conclusion from that day was:

ascending + deep sand + strong wind in the opposite direction + a very heavy backpack = the worst combination ever.

Oh, I don't want to do it ever again.

And here it was again - a water cache along the way. We were happy and frustrated at the same time to see that. We didn't have to carry those 6 liters, if we knew we would find water here :(

The water cache was just before starting the last climb for that day. We didn't think it was possible, but the wind got worse!!! Now it was really scary, since the climb was quite steep and the trail was narrow most of the way. I stick my trekking poles so hard in the ground, hoping it will protect me from flying off the trail again. Wind can be an evil thing sometimes.

When we finally got to the top we were so exhausted we ate like crazy. By the time we got to our camp site for that night Roi got a fever... I guess the wind won! It was the first time I saw Roi really suffering on the trail.

Luckily our next day was very short one, mostly descending, clear sky and no winds.

Very quickly we arrived to walker pass, where we hitched to a town called Lake Isabella (more than 30 miles off the trail).

A good rest, zero day and a lot of food did their magic. Roi was happy and strong again :)

On our second and last night in the motel the owners made a big dinner for all the hikers that stayed there. It was already my birthday, according to Israel time zone. A nice way to start the celebration.

The weather was bad that day. Very cloudy, cold and rainy. We were so glad to be off the trail...

The next morning we hitched back to the trail. It was still cloudy, dark and cold, but by the time we got back to walker pass it looked better.

But few hours later it went dark and cloudy again... We tried to be optimists... For a while... After all, it was my birthday...

Birthday or not, 1 hour later a rain storm started. We made it almost in time to open our ground sheet, put it on a tree and hide from the rain under it.

We sat there for about an hour, waiting for the storm to pass.

After 20 minutes without rain we finally decided to move on.

We walked about 10 minutes before we found ourselves in the middle of another rain storm, this time without any chance to get a shelter...

So we got wet, and wet and wet. Until we were soaked from head to toe.

Absolutely the best birthday ever :(

Few hours later the rain stopped and we found a nice place to camp. All our cloths and shoes were wet. But at least our sleeping bags stayed dry. It can always be worse...

The next morning we had hard time to get into the wet and cold cloths and shoes... But the weather got better...

At some point it got cloudy again and we saw the rain coming again. We sat up our tent quickly and waited inside until it was safe again... Not taking anymore chances from now on. We learned our lesson...

The rest of the day was beautiful and we could see the first mountains of the Sierra.