I write to you happily from the humble public library of Lone Pine, California.  Two days ago I finished the “Desert” section of the Pacific Crest Trail when I passed mile 702 and entered “Kennedy Meadows”.  Since then I have been overwhelmed by the abundant life, color, and WATER of the Sierra Nevada.  I don’t know how to express without seeming hyperbolic the overflowing energy and happiness that this change has brought to me.  

The best I can communicate is to say this–as you picture me these days, imagine me smiling ear to ear with my eyes wide open.  I am sticking my head in every stream, touching every sequoia tree, yelling at every marmot, cackling at every gust of wind, and stopping for every sunset.   I am thoroughly smitten once more by my old love, true mountains.  

But, much of my ecstasy in the Sierras comes from the relief they have offered to the final stretch of the desert which was absolutely brutal.  Somehow, we had it in our heads that the last 150 miles of desert were less desertish as they approached the mountains–this is far from the truth.  Those 150 miles were very hard.   

[[In these descriptions I got a little more descriptive than I would have liked so feel free to skip, skim, or even just browse the pictures.]]

Day 28 [566-576] As you may remember from the last chapter, I had been invited to stay with some people at their Airbnb.  Anyways, I woke up early to the violent radiance of the rising sun cooking me as I lay on the turf of the backyard.  Nothing makes you so aware of your lack of sleep, the coors banquets you drank, and your miles on trail, as such a wakeup by the desert sun. {I don’t always do a good job of resting on my rest days} Then I cooked myself a bunch of eggs and my leftover bratwursts(enough of Emriique’s restaurant quality French vegan)!!! 

I spent the next couple hours reading, journaling, and writing letters.  It was a very good day.  Then in the evening I ubered to the trail and began the steep ascent back up, 17 miles to water.  That night as I hiked there was my favorite sunset yet on trail and I listened to a Jason Isbell album and felt very cinematic-and don’t you dare tell me I wasn’t.   Then I thought: “It would be way more cinematic if all my letters hadn’t been to dudes”

Day 29 [576-608.8] I woke up at 5 to beat the heat and hiked the remaining 9 miles to a spring and chugged a couple liters of water as fast as I could filter it.  After this water carry there was another 20 mile stretch (ugh).  Those 20 miles ended up occurring throughout the heat of the day (mid 90s with UV of 11) and were very dry and very hot.  Throughout the day I would stop and talk to strangers and try to be nice.  And as always I found myself proudly picking up trash (treebeard environmentalism). 

-Yet, at the end of this monster day where I did everything right, something felt wrong–I felt bad, maybe even guilty.  I say this now because maybe sometime I’ll figure out why and tell you, for now let's just call it dehydration.  

Day 30 [608.8-635.4] Today was worse, a 23 mile water carry with no shade.  To make matters worse, I overslept and so had even less productive hiking in the cool morning hours.  This carry was very hard, and at the end the trail turned to soft sand which zaps your energy and slows you down by at least 35%.  But ¾ through the day I got cell service and found that I had some nice/any texts from friends and was so happy and energized that it turned my day around and I was flying again.  (I guess I’m not so complicated)  Then I cooked dinner by the water and hiked to the summit of a nearby peak where it was very windy–this meant no bugs, cold air, downhill to start the next day and I slept like a rock.

Day 31 [635-665] I woke up and was in good spirits to start (downhill!) I made it 18 miles by noon and was feeling great. I had planned on taking a siesta to beat the heat between 1-3, but when I found myself crossing the road at noon ahead of schedule I couldn’t resist and hitched myself a ride(still got it!).  In the town I found the divebar, got a double cheeseburger and a beer and watched USA beat Australia in Soccer with the noon Friday regulars.  I obviously had to get a beer to make friends with these beautiful (exclusively Mexican) new friends of mine.  1 beer, however was like a horse tranquilizer and I knew a second would put me to sleep and so I went next door to the ice cream shop.  I got a milkshake and an icecream sundae.  Then I hitched a ride with 3 nice hippies who were going to the trailhead.  (I later found out that they were a thrupple) ((the girl had the hairiest legs I have ever seen on a woman and top 5 hairiest for a man)) After this I cruised some evening miles with a full stomach and had the time of my life recklessly running down all the hills.  It is crazy how happy food makes me.  I love running downhill!

Day 32 [665-688.5] I slept in after my late night to bed but woke up covered in dew–the penalty of not sleeping in a tent.  Then I hiked casually for a while until about 4 when I saw a sign that said “trail magic ahead.”  There was a former hiker “Spilly”  a photographer from LA who loved hanging out with the community and who had a box full of chips and rice krispy treats, a cooler full of beer, and a winebag!  He also has a camera setup to take hiker portraits(mine will come in a week). There with him were a number of hikers whose ambitions had been spoiled by generosity, some of whom had become quite drunk.  I joined the commotion and made merry for a few hours (wisely avoiding the winebag) before night hiking another few miles ahead.  

Day 33 [688.5-704] I woke up and hiked downhill to Kennedy meadows.  I passed mile 700.  There started to be water.  At Kennedy Meadows I got a large pizza, a double cheeseburger, a pint of ice cream, a sleeve of oreos, and even charmed my way with the cooks to have their leftover Burritos de chicharrón.  

Day 34 [704-726] I probably sound like a fremen from Dune or a stoner or surfer or something but WOW! 

Water really is Life 

And WOW!!

Did you ever really see the color green?

And WOW!!!

I love the birds chirping, and I love watching the moon grow each night, and I can’t believe I have seen more deer today than rattlesnakes in all the desert

Yeah, it was that kind of day. And to further the (incorrect) suspicions that I’m on drugs, tonight when I cooked dinner I played a Grateful Dead album and for the first time I actually liked them.  Top 1 dinner spot so far btw

JUST LOOK AT ALL THE GREEN

Day 35 [726-751]  The great hiking continues… Also, I met a Polish girl named Alexandra with a 50lb pack who barely spoke English. I gave her lots of advice on what to throw away and how to ship much of the extra weight ahead.  Anyways, pray for her because she needs it.  (picture of her comically large pack below) Then I made it to another lovely campsite and fell asleep.  

Day 36 [751-752] Today I hiked down off the trail to meet my sister Kackie who is going to hike with me for the next few weeks.  I’m pumped to have a friend and a sister at that! More on this later.  

I don’t think I had realized the spiritual and psychological effects of the desert on me until I left.  Now I feel as though a weight has been lifted from my mind, body and spirit and I feel truly encouraged.  

Anyone, over the next few months feel free to

-text me

-send me books to listen to

-send me albums to listen to

-ask me questions to think about

-rent computing power from my head and have me ponder existential questions for you while I hike

-criticize my blog posts or other writing or thoughts or behaviors or actions