Back on the Trail

Back in Late July I was in Northern Oregon, and running out of steam. Fast forward 6 weeks and I am headed out to the High Sierras, hoping to finish a section I skipped back in May.

I'm still not sure what happened in Oregon - perhaps it was poor nutrition, perhaps it was a mental thing, maybe something else - but now I've re-gained some weight and and am curious about seeing the Range of Light. I fly from Buffalo NY to Bakersfield Cal on Thursday September 3 and am being picked up by a trail angel, who is most graciously letting me sleep on his couch. Friday, September 4 he is driving me up to Kennedy Meadows South, where I left my bear vault on Memorial day.

On my last trip through this section there were reports of heavy snow fall. Now, the reports are of meagre water sources. So my challenge for the next few days will be to get 40 miles up the trail past the dry creek beds.

I had planned my food drops for spring, but those have all been repurposed, so my food strategy is changing. I'm hoping to make it straight through to VVR in one go. That's a long ways, about 175 miles. Plus I get the privilege of carrying a bear canister at about 2 pounds. So when I leave Kennedy Meadows I'll have an unwieldy load. (Plus the altitude, which jumps right up to 10,000' plus in the first few days and crosses passes that exceed 13,000'. What was I thinking?)

On the plus side, bugs are reported to be negligible, river crossings will be non-events, crowds will be thinning, and, I'll be in the high Sierras!