Day 55 (13 June) - Mile 602.12 - 617.86

Robin Bird Spring to Campsite at Mile 617.86

After blogging last night I had trouble falling asleep. I though I should take an Aleve, but with 4 tents close by, I didn't what to make noise getting the pill out. Then, my air mattress felt like it needed more air, but again I didn't want to make noise. I guess I did finally fall asleep and the awoke around 3:00 AM and had to add air into my mattress since my hip was hitting the ground. I think this mattress has had it.

I then awoke around 6:30 AM and heard Share Bear packing up, but yesterday was a hard day and I felt like I needed some extra sleep. I finally got up around 7:00 AM and packed up my things and ate breakfast. I was ready to hike by 7:30 AM and Kennan, Max, and Rocket Pop were still in their tents, but getting ready. I guess we will all hiked our own hike this morning and will meet up later in the day.

Ready to go.

Today Tim is meeting us at Kelso Valley Road which is the 13.92 mile point in today's hike, so I was motivated to try to hike a little faster.

What's more motivating than this awesome morning view?

Great view to start the day.

The entire morning was spent hiking through a pine forest. It was so peaceful and beautiful. It was actually pretty nice to be hiking alone through this amazing scenery where you can daydream and get lost in your thoughts.

Beautiful pine forest.

I was lucky enough to see a doe and fawn, and snapped this picture...you may not be lucky enough to see them though.

Doe and fawn.

The trees in this area had PCT signs attached to them. I had to set up this cool picture for the PCT sign of the day:

PCT sign of the day with my backpack and hiking poles.

Of course, the beautiful forest couldn't last since California seems to be the forest fire state.  After walking through the forest you could imagine what this area once looked like.

PCT through a burn area.

Burned pine forest.

Self-portrait "Burn with mountain"

I finally made it through the burn area and needed to stop for lunch. I was trying to make it to Tim first, but my stomach had other ideas. I came across Passport and decided to stop there. After lunch we joined each other for the last 5 miles to where Tim is meeting us. During these 5 miles we saw these long views of mountains. Pretty tall peaks can be seen way in the distance. I don't know if there are peaks we have been to or are headed towards.

Long views of peaks.

Of course, this beautiful day couldn't be complete without seeing a snake. I was pretty happy that Passport was with me to help me deal with this pretty large gopher snake. 

Gopher snake.

Passport leading the way.

When I met up with Passport we had 4.70 miles to go to meet Tim. We arrived at Kelso Valley Road about 2:45 PM, only 1 hour and 45 minutes after starting out. I think that's a pretty good average.

When we arrived, Tim wasn't there, but Share Bear was. She said she had a very enjoyable day today hiking alone. I get that. Today was beautiful.

Just about 15 minutes after I arrived, Tim showed up:

Hi Tim!

As usual, he provided trail magic bringing salad makings, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Oreos, oranges, bananas, apples, and Cheetos. Every seemed to really enjoy it all:

Enjoying Tim's trail magic.

After 3 hours of hanging out with Tim, we figured we should head back on trail. The plan was to go a couple of miles and then find a campsite for the night. Share Bear and I headed out first and told the others that we would stop at the first sign of a nice site. Of course the trail climbed from this point. During the climb we saw this cute little bunny:

Desert rabbit?

Share Bear was feeling motivated and hiked ahead a bit. I think she was anxious to find a place to sleep.

Share Bear hiking on.

Just about at the 2 mile point after leaving Tim we came across the perfect place that we could all fit. In our current group we have 5 people and 4 tents.  Plus, Heidi has been hanging with us the past couple of days, so she might want to camp with us. That make 5 tents. It is not easy to find a site that can hold that many tents. However, we managed to find just that among some Joshua Trees.

Share Bear and I set up our tents, than Max, Rocket Pop, and Kennan showed up and set up their tents. Then Heidi did show up and decided to camp with us. And then, as we were eating dinner, MAGA showed up and camped with us as well. What an awesome group of people camping together.

After dinner everyone went to their tents. I stayed up while MAGA ate to keep him company and didn't get Into my tent until after 9:00 PM. I wrote most of this blog, but quit at 10:00 PM because I was tired. I am actually finishing this up the next night before starting on this day's blog. Luckily I was able to get in my tent before 9:00 PM tonight.

Tomorrow we meet up with Tim again after 13 miles of hiking. Can't wait!

My tent before everyone else showed up.