Tehachapi to Kennedy Meadows – Trail Magic!

The PCT can be broken up into five major sections: The Desert, The Sierras, NorCal, Oregon, and Washington. I have finally finished the first (and longest) of these sections. In the 138 mile stretch between Tehachapi and Kennedy Meadows I averaged big miles and encountered a lot of trail magic! Here’s how it went.

May 24th – PCT Day 42

The group got two taxis to the trailhead to start our day. I was in the second, and we left around 7:30 because our day would start with a long, hot climb. Before I left I noticed that Pez in the first car left his tent footprint behind, so I grabbed it for him and hoped to catch him later on the trail. The trail follows the freeway for a half mile before climbing through some Joshua Tree filled hills. Legs, who was in the taxi in front of me, passed me coming back down. His foot was bothering him so he decided to get it checked out by a doctor. I wished him well and kept going.

The trail eventually climbs to almost 7000 ft into a forested area. I caught up to the group at one of the few water sources in this stretch, a spring. We’d heard that there was a norovius outbreak on this section of trail and a hiker who had passed us coming down told us that he had camped at the spring for two days with norovius. We tried to touch as little as possible as we refilled our water and continued on another 4 miles to the next campsite. I gave Pez his tent footprint and he headed back on trail. As I was packing up I noticed that he’d left his water bladder with a liter and a half of water at the spring. Great. Now I needed to carry almost 4 pounds in addition to the 7 pounds of water I had for myself. I begrudgingly strapped the bladder to my pack and kept going. I couldn’t leave the water there, Pez might run out in the next long, waterless stretch. The trail goes through a wind farm construction zone in this section. The equipment detracted from the beauty, but at least the work crews had gone home for the day.

We had a full camp as our group of 7 (myself, Pez, Zod, No Meli, Wiggles, Keebler, and Baby Big Foot) were joined by Gatsby, Crikey, Nightwalker, and Section. I gave Pez his water bladder back and joked that if he didn’t already have a trail name he could be “lost and found”. It was a nice evening and we enjoyed having dinner together. We did 21 miles that day!

May 25th – Day 43

I woke up in the morning and had another big day planned – 22 miles, much of it uphill, to another one of the very limited water sources in this section. The trail climbed some more to almost 7300 ft elevation and the forest was beautiful, it almost looked like it could be Colorado. Keebler even saw a young bear on the trail. We could feel how close the Sierras were.

I powered through the day, losing a little bit of energy in the afternoon but making slow, steady progress. A mile before my planned campsite for the night the trail crosses a dirt forest road. Baby Bigfoot’s parents were there, and they’d brought us burgers, fruit, snacks, and beer! We were so excited and it was a great end to the evening. We hobbled that last mile back the established campground where we stayed for the evening.

May 26th – Day 44

I was out early and headed down the trail, which descends from beautiful mountain to complete desert. By the time I got to the well stocked water cache at Kelso Rd, it was already very hot. I filled up my water and kept hiking, stopping to take breaks in whatever meager shade I could find.

I got to a trailhead and found several hikers, including Gatsby, No Meli, Wiggles, and Keebler, taking a nap in whatever shade they could find. I decided to embrace these last few days of the desert and keep going. About a mile from camp I came across No Meli stopped on trail. He pointed out a rattlesnake ahead on trail. I was glad that he pointed it out to me, but also glad that it was there. I’d make it over 600 miles and it was the first rattlesnake I’d seen!

When I got to the intended campsite for the night – a trailhead – I didn’t see anyone from my group, just a white Sprinter van. I walked to the other side of the van and saw everyone sitting around eating food and drinking beer. Sixer, the guy who lived in the van, had showed up to cook everyone dinner. He brought beer and made tacos, popcorn, and root beer floats for us. In the evening he even put on a movie! I stayed up very late (10:30) to watch The Quick and The Dead, a cheesy Western from the 1990’s. It was a fun movie, and was filmed very near where we were hiking. It was the best trail magic I’d received to date. Sixer is a great guy and told us cool stories from his time on the PCT in 2019. It was pretty windy at night, but I’d had such a great day that I didn’t mind.

May 27th – Day 45

Sixer stayed overnight and made us omelettes and coffee in the morning! We couldn’t believe our luck and gladly hung around, even though we had a big climb that morning and the day was heating up fast. I started the climb around 8 and it was already warm. The trail was pretty until the crest, then descends into a series of higher elevation hills – almost like a mesa + and winds through forest without views to speak of. Maybe it was the heat, but for the first time on trail I was bored of hiking. I was tired of my music and the time and miles passed slowly.

Finally the trail crested over the final hill and I could see Walker Pass, my destination for the day. I was so excited to be there that I raced down. My Dad met me at the Walker Pass Campground to take me to Kernville for my resupply. I was very grateful, because I was the last of the group to get there and everyone else had hitched a ride ahead of me. Kernville was a super cute town. We stayed in a great little hotel and got beers at the brewery. Zod even grilled hot dogs in the hotel courtyard and gave us some!

May 28th – Day 46

I woke up early in the morning but I still needed to do laundry and the laundromat didn’t open until 8, so we got breakfast before heading there. I grabbed food at the market for my three day resupply and then my Dad took myself, Pez, and Zod back to the trail a little before noon. It was finally our last section of the desert. We were starting mid day and the heat was intense.

The climb was brutal at first, but after about 3 miles it became less steep and the weather cooled off a bit. I continued on to Joshua Tree Spring, my intended campsite. When I got there I was shocked to find it completely packed with tents, even though it was only 6 pm. After talking to a few of the people there I realized that a lot of people were on trail for the long weekend. I was considering squeezing my tent in somewhere, but I heard that someone camping near the spring was sick. With norovius concerns still on my mind, I decided to keep hiking. I found a great spot and camped alone. It was a nice, peaceful evening.

May 29th – Day 47

There would be A LOT of climbing this day, so I got up early. I ran into Zod and Pez at the creek right before the climb. They’d camped only a half mile ahead of me. It was another hot day and the climb was slow going. I kept reminding myself that soon we’d be out of the desert and we’d escape the heat. In fact, I might even miss it on cold nights in the Sierra.

At a saddle I found an incredible site tucked away between trees on all sides and decided to take a trail nap. It was my first real nap on trail and I enjoyed it immensely. The trail descends after the climb into a meadow and for the first time I felt like things were starting to look like the Sierras.

As I got to a creek near a campground I saw that someone had posted signs telling PCT hikers to head to site 9 at the campground for some trail magic. I hadn’t planned on stopping by the campground, but the promise of food changed my mind. When I got there I found Pez, Zod, and many other hikes enjoying shade, chairs, beer, and snacks provided by friends of a hiker named Strider in his memory. Every year for the last 7 years, Strider’s friends have hosted a trail magic here on Memorial Day Weekend to honor his memory. One if the hosts hiked the PCT in 1977, before it was even complete, making him one of the first 100 people to hike from Mexico to Canada.

Everyone was so friendly and knowledgeable and happy to answer questions we had about the trail. At dinner time they made burgers, baked beans and salad for everyone. They absolutely refused any donations or even offers of help. I was blown away by their generosity and was so grateful. Every year this group spends their long Memorial Day weekend feeding strangers for nothing in return. I hope to one day be able to pay it forward to other PCT hikers for this group and for people like Sixer.

May 30th – Day 48

I was SO excited to get to Kennedy Meadows! I only had a short climb and then it would be all downhill or flat. As I crested the hill I got my first glance at the High Sierras in the distance. I’d be there, soon! I made good time to the bottom of this hill.

I was almost giddy as I hiked the last nine miles through beautiful meadows. Isolated rain clouds popped up in the afternoon and it even smelled like rain and mountains. By the time we got to the Kern river I was feeling better than ever. It was so nice to be able to wade into an actual river. Pez and I took a long lunch break there before pushing into Kennedy Meadows.

Just before Kennedy Meadows we passed the mile 700 sign. Pez asked me to take his picture, and as he was giving me his phone the handoff was bad and it fell to the ground. Pez’s phone has a case on it, so it was mostly fine, except the gap in the back of the case where the camera lens is had landed perfectly on a pointy rock, shattering it. I felt so terrible. Pez wasn’t mad, but it was a huge bummer for him. Eventually he realized he could chip away the shattered glass and the camera still mostly works. I feel awful, but Pez wasn’t mad at me about it. We kept going with only a slight damper on the day.

I hopped the last step of the trail onto Sherman Pass Road when I got there. I was finally done with the first of the five sections (The Desert, The Sierras, NorCal, Oregon, and Washington) of the PCT. I felt like I was officially a thru hiker! I was even more excited than I thought I’d be to start the Sierras as we headed towards the General Store.

At the general store we saw Legs, who was back from recovering from his tendon issues. We grabbed burgers and waited for the rest of the group. When they arrived we cheered for them as they walked in, which is a PCT tradition. The kitchen was closed by the time No Meli, Wiggles, Keebler, and Baby Bigfoot arrived, so we took the hiker shuttle to the only other restaurant in town, Grumpys. Grumpys was absolutely packed full of PCT hikers and drinks were flowing. At one point in the evening someone (maybe it was the owners? Maybe it was a patron?) opened a $1000 open tab. With beers only costing $4, that tab lasted the rest of the night. We had a ton of fun, and some of us even had too much fun and were cut off by the bar at 9. By the time last call came around and three quarters past hiker midnight (9:45) there was still enough beer on the table to keep the party going. Finally at 10:30 Grumpys cut the power and the entire place went dark. Some opted to stay and hang out by the light of their headlamps but I headed in. I was glad that I’d set up my tent in daylight so I didn’t have to do it in the dark while buzzed. Cayotes howled in the night.

May 31st – Day 49

I woke up and headed to Grumpys for breakfast. I got the hiker breakfast, which included the biggest pancake I’d ever seen. I managed to finish it, which impressed Keebler. My parents came at around 10:30. They were bringing me a lot of the gear I’d need for the Sierras, including my bear can (a 3 pound necessary evil), bug protection, and my crampons. I decided to skip an ice axe, as it’s a low snow year and the general consensus is that it isn’t needed. I also got new shoes, as my old ones were completely falling apart. I replaced all my socks as my old ones had holes in them, and I finally got a new spoon to replace the one Pez broke at Silverwood Dam.

We drove to Kennedy Meadows campground where I sorted through my food to get my resupply in order. The next stretch is one of the longest without crossing a road – over 200 miles, but I’d be bailing out on a side trail after 94 miles to get food. When adding in the extra day I planned on taking to summit Mt Whitney I’d need 7 days of food, my longest carry yet. I shoved all my meals and as many snacks as I could into my bear can and hoped for the best. Afterwards we went back to Grumpys and got lunch. After they left I did laundry and showered and headed back to the general store to camp for the night. I plan on getting an early start to get as many miles in as I can in this next stretch.

Until next time

Megan “Fire Ant” Spencer