July 11th
Kennedy Canyon Creek(1007)-Sonora Pass/Hwy 108(1118.3)
Today’s Mileage: 11.3mi
I am writing this entry on very full stomach after an afternoon of eating and more eating at Kennedy Meadows north just after Sonora Pass. Today was a very productive day, so I’m a happy camper.
We got going at 6am with the goal of getting to Hwy 108/Sonora Pass, eating, resupplying, and then camping back at the trailhead. We were all excited to have dry tents! The condensation has been crazy lately and it was cold this morning, but thankfully dry. I still had those wet shoes to put on, but that’s to be expected. This morning, we renamed Scout’s Honor, Little Jimmy and it’s perfect! He was a boy scout and still has that boyish way. Plus, when we went over Baden Powell, the creator of the Boy Scouts, the campground was named Little Jimmy. We didn’t tell him about the Saturday Night Live skit and that’s all our inside joke. Just perfect!
Sonora Pass is probably my fourth favorite pass and it might have been ranked even higher if this leg didn’t exhaust me so much. The views were amazing and I took video as we went up that I will post in a couple weeks.
It was a long pass, but it was great to get views with less snow. In the last couple miles, we had some fun glissades. Many people thought they were the best of the Sierras. Again, the video will come in the future. It was great to end this tough section with some fun. I really am thankful to have such a humorous group that made this section more enjoyable because it was really tough. Just the culmination of the previous weeks and the challenges of this leg combined have been very draining. We are all looking forward to the next four days to Echo Lake/Tahoe. It is listed as “a walk in the park compared to the previous section” in one of the guidebooks. We know this year is different, but we all kept mentioning that “walk in the park” that we were headed to during this past section.
When we got to the road, we said goodbye to Bottle Rocket cause he was going to Bridgeport. The rest of us headed to Kennedy Meadows north to get resupply boxes and eat. There was no phone reception, but knead happy to get wifi and upload my journals. I ate a ton too! Here’s where we sat and ate all day.
We saw few other hikers. Raven and Lovebird came in behind us. Free Range had come in yesterday. They all somehow found ways to cross that were not as harrowing as ours. Jeez! The guys found that quite humorous because it was me that took the brunt of that. The best part of today was that we all sent off our bear canisters. Sayonara sucka! Very happy to get rid of that weight, but we will still carry the ice axes and microspikes for the next section.
Thumper is on a schedule and left early, but Free Range is leaving out with us, so this leg’s group will be me, Free Range, Balls, Sunshine, Snowblind, and Scout’s Honor(Little Jimmy). Off to the trailhead for another four days…with hopefully few streams.
