Miles: somewhere on hwy 178 to mile 680 (6ish miles?)
Elevation 5,500ft
3:30pm
Getting out of Lake Isabella this morning was quite an ordeal. But it turned out super fun and awesome! We got a ride from a really cool guy who drove us into Kernville, which is another small town towards Walker Pass where the trailhead is. Its 35 miles east of Lake Isabella on Hwy 178. Kernville is such a cool town!!! Oh my gosh I wish I knew about Kernville before going into Lake Isabella, I would have gone there instead! Kernville is next to the Kern River and is known for its whitewater rafting. The town itself is kinda like Julian and Idyllwild, and there are river outfitters and bike shops everywhere!! Dang, I'm pretty disappointed I didn't know about Kernville sooner, that would have been an AWESOME town to zero in!
Anyhow, from Kernville we had to hitch 10 miles to hwy 178. That took a while. We were next to a fire station and we were watching the firefighters doing training exercises, putting on and taking off the fire gear. That's was kinda cool. We finally got picked up by a cool guy who dropped us off somewhere along hwy 178.
Then we got picked up by a lady who was going to Onyx which was about 5 miles down the road. Then we got picked up by a French couple on vacation who was driving to Lone Pine. So, 4 hitches later we finally got to our destination. The whole hitchiking thing took about 4 hours. Hey, beggars can't be choosy, anything that will get us closer to the trailhead we'll take. :)
Not So Bad is meeting his brother at Kennedy Meadows on Saturday, so we have to do 50 miles by Saturday. Since we got such a late start today we decided to take a shortcut. There is a road that intersect both hwy 178 and the PCT. it's a 10 mile detour that shaves off 30 miles of the trail, including 2 2,000ft elevation gains/drops. Since it was already so late we decided to take this detour so we could get to KM in time.
I took some pics of signs along the road, as well as the road itself. We're basically road walking the next 10 miles. This reminded me of the LA aqueduct walk. A wide road flanked by bushes. Lol. We're currently sitting under a tree waiting til it cools down.
9pm
I really like roadwalks, many people don't, but for me it's the only time I can really look around at the scenery while walking. When I'm on the trail I have to constantly stare at where I'm stepping so that I don't trip or roll my ankle
We are camping at Chimney Creek campground which is right off the PCT. I usually avoid established campgrounds, but sometimes it's nice to have picnic tables and flat ground. :)
I made a video about how I cook. I'll post it when I get Internet again. 20ish miles to Kennedy Meadows! Stoked!! Wow tonight is the first night in a long time that 1)I'm in bed by 9 and 2)there aren't 30mph winds blowing. Yay!
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