Lake Isabella - Mile 654 - 6/17

Record setting day today woke up and was out to hike by 5:30 in the morning. That may not happen again for a long time...it took Herculean amounts of willpower to get up and packing before sunrise. The motivation of going into town for the afternoon (and burger king) was reason enough to get me going.

Shortly into the mornings hike I ran into Heavy and Cheers who I've been hiking behind since Tehachapi and it was good to see familiar faces again. Stopes for water at a well weathered cabin for some swampy water and a mid morning snack break. The first half of the morning was gradually uphill and the rest was downhill. When I arrived at Walker Pass Campground there were a few hikers lounging around. Come to find out one of the hiker's girlfriend came out and cooked us some chilli dogs as well as an assortment of beverages and fruits.

So fifteen miles down by 11am which was really decent. So it was time to try and get a hitch 37 miles to town no easy task. Twenty minutes go by, then forty five, then over an hour. Its super hot in the midday sun and Spins and I are starting to get a little loopy and frustrated/impatient. Then Heavy and Cheers showed up and we were like great four hikers on the side of the road now we're never going to get a ride. Heavy and Cheers realize this and went out of aight to hang out in the shade. All things work out eventually and for a good reason. Enter Marvin and Debbie. A big ol' pickup slows down and we were so excited to actually get a ride and they took Heavy and Cheers to town as well, mission accomplished!

Now we could have had a long quiet eventless ride to town but immediately Marvin and Debbie are talking with us about the trail, what we are doing, and the area as well. Sometimes personalities click and very quickly it was apparent we were with good people. They were headed over to the lake for the afternoon to fish and even offered to give us a ride back to the trail which was a huge weight off our shoulders.

We got dropped off at Burger King and stuffed ourselves something proper (bacon sundae included). Then it was off to the supermarket for a two and a half day resupply which translates to pick up a bunch of heavier delicious junk for the next few days. Donuts, over a pound of gummy bears, some bars, cheese nips, and a bit more junk is my menu until Kennedy Meadows in fifty miles. Marvin and Debbie picked us back up and drove us back to the trail. We chatted further about life and our trip and they said they will be up around the Sierraish area on the weekends and would be down with meeting up around there which hopefully pans out. It would be a lot of fun spending more time with them, they are both quality people and it's experiences like that which make this whole trip so wonderful and special.

After being dropped off I hiked another two miles uphill and watched the sunset over the far ridge. Another end to a great day. T-minus 50 miles to Kennedy Meadows and the unofficial end of the desert and start of the Sierra Nevada mountains!!!!!!