June 11 - Lake Isabella/ Walker Pass

End: saddle after Morris peak
Daily: 5.4
Total: 656.9

Today we mostly spent hanging out, hydrating, and talking to people. We caught a ride with one of the trail angels into Lake Isabella so we could go to the grocery store, but all we needed was a lunch and some snacks. The trail angel was actually going into town to drop off some trash, so we all piled into the back of her covered pickup with a bunch of trash bags. Gave a whole new meaning to "hiker trash".

A few people we liked and haven't seen in a while showed up today, which made it hard to leave. It's exciting that we get to be in Kennedy Meadows in two days, but I really wanted to catch up with Shaker, Mowgli, and Hotrod too. I also wish Gourmet would show up, since we miss him, and also because his daughter joined him in Tehachapi, but she doesn't have her trail legs yet.

I really wish we were a day back often, because I feel like we would fit in better with a lot of the people behind us, but it's so hard to not keep moving when the urge hits. I think at Kennedy Meadows we might take a day or two off. It's just hard to feel like part of a group when the group dynamics include an activity that we don't really take part in, and when everyone in the group is really loud and we're not. Maybe I'm feeling more like this than Chris, but I know he feels it too.

Anyway, we eventually left and walked 5 miles to here. We were originally planning to hike 12 miles to the next water, but we ate cheeseburgers and peach pie before we left and then hiked up a huge hill. So instead we stopped here, in the saddle, where we knew it would be windy, and sure enough, it's windy. We set up the tent because it's annoying to cowboy camp in the wind. We are SO good at setting up this tent now for the wind.

Then we watched the gorgeous sunset over the valley we just hiked out of, and enjoyed Starbursts and some of that Old Number 7. Beautiful.

KM countdown: 45.3 miles. Woo!