Day 37 | Departure from Kennedy Meadows


June 12, 2019 | Mile 702.2–732.2⁣

📷 Instagram | Said bye to the fam, did 30 miles for our first day in the Sierra Nevada, got my camera back⁣

First mile marker of the Sierra

First mile marker of the Sierra

After our zero day with my family, I was feeling super antsy to get back on trail and into the Sierra Nevada. Austin drove us to the trailhead on his way to Sierra Camp where he’s filling in for Dylan as Ski Dock Head while she graduates (!!) this Sunday. I’m super excited for her to graduate and get up to Camp, and can’t wait to see her... we just have to walk 400 miles to get to South Lake Tahoe 😂.⁣

Since PJ and I have a resupply package in Lone Pine, we wanted to do lots of miles today so that we can get into town before the post office closes tomorrow. Luckily the snow wasn’t too much of an issue except when we were above 10,000 feet, so we were able to get in 30 miles today.⁣

It was super hot all morning and afternoon and the elevation was definitely affecting us both — there’s also apparently fires somewhere to the south because the air was kind of smoky. All that was counter-balanced by the beauty of the Sierra Nevada. We’re not even into the depths of the mountain range yet and it’s so pretty. ⁣

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Not much snow on the trail yet

Not much snow on the trail yet

It looks extremely different than the desert 10 miles south, everything is so green and there’s so much water! We don’t even filter our water anymore because it’s all just straight snowmelt running down the mountains. By the afternoon I wasn’t even carrying water — whenever I was thirsty I’d wait till we hit a stream (it felt like there were streams every half mile) and just fill my bottle directly from the flow and drink it. ⁣

Also, I finally got my camera back from Sony so I’m enjoying taking photos again! Anyways, missing my family already, hope Austin has fun at Sierra Camp for the next week! Today was tiring but rewarding, probably representative of what the next few weeks will look like as we trek through the Sierra.⁣