Start point

Kennedy Meadows South, mile 702

End point

Tentsite at mile 721.9

Miles hiked

19.9

Wilderness area

Inyo National Forest

South Sierra Wilderness

Sequoia National Forest

The day on trail

Raspberry and I started off early, with Propeller and Crispy behind us. Magpie and Phoenix left yesterday for a shorter first day.

The trail opened up, as it did the first time I came out, into meadows with twisting lines of river.

We ran into Magpie and Phoenix after the first river crossing and hung out with them. Propeller and Crispy caught up to us there. Apparently these four like to take long, sprawling breaks throughout the day. This concerns me because long breaks in the day interrupt my rhythm and it’s hard for me to hike farther when I take them. If we’re moving as a unit, this light be a problem for my endurance. Regardless, it should work for a short period of time.

I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch, but I think I’ve escaped Kennedy Meadows South.

I found some sort of pelvic bone in some bushes.

I saw a beetle I didn’t recognize. It had a textured, pebbled abdomen.

At the first water crossing, I took the same log I took last time. This time I was able to stand and walk across.

Achievement unlocked: walk across a downed log over a river, without handholds.

I passed a meadow I found lovely.

I was able to dodge most of the following river crossings, but the group had decided to camp on a side of the river that necessitated a final crossing. It was able to be done via a flexible, small pine tree that fell across the water.

Raspberry beat me to the final crossing by about 10 minutes. We hung out for about 40 minutes waiting for the crew, thinking we could coordinate a site that didn’t require a water crossing. Stay Golden and his group came through and crossed over the pine tree.

Eventually, because we were losing light, we decided to just keep to the plan and crossed. We got to the site, just past where Stay Golden’s crew set up, and pitched nice and early.

Knowing we had an early morning, we went to bed early. It’s hard to sleep in a hot tent in the afternoon!