Kennedy Meadows

Wow, 700 miles really flies by. I just spent the last 150 miles in the Sierra, but it has been way more desertlike than the desert. Go figure. North of Kennedy Meadows is where the "real" Sierra comes though. I've been there a couple of times before, but it's one place that you can never get sick of. I'll be spending the next 200+ miles without running into so much as a jeep road. I've talked a bit about how much trail angels have given to me. This section, I was able to give back. Before leaving HikerTown, I was somehow conned into helping lay down flooring for the owner. After I woke up, he asked if I wanted coffee. Then if I wanted toast. Then if I wanted to see the ranch next door that he bought and was renovating to rent in the off-season, and let hikers use during the summer. Then he said to the guy laying the floor, "and by the way, this guy offered to help." He stopped short of pushing me into the room before running away. My head was still spinning a bit as to how it all happened, but I had fun laying the floor, and felt good to help the trail angel, not to mention the hikers following me that are going to have some nice linoleum to walk on. I got to Tehachapi, and was in Starbucks when an older guy who saw I was a hiker came up and started talking to me. Turns out, he was a trail angel that left much needed water, and much appreciate apples eight miles before town. I asked him if I could buy him lunch. He told me how he has been out of work as a carpenter for 4 months due to kidney stones (unfortunately, I now know A LOT about his kidney stones), and that he hasn't been able to afford to go out and eat at his favorite Thai restaurant since then. He couldn't seem to believe his fortune that someone would treat him to lunch. And he even had some leftovers to give to his grandkid. Last e-mail I tried to tell you a bit about what the PCT looks like. This time I'll try to tell you what it sounds like. Imagine New York City during rush hour. It's entirely unlike that. You walk along and hear the clicking of your trekking poles, and crunching under your feet. You stop walking, and all that's left is that godforsaken whistling. You realize you've been whistling again and cut that out. Now there is nothing left but your breathing. And the occasional gust of wind. Or the hoot of an owl. Or the scampering of a lizard. And then you look around you and realize that the only sign of civilization apart from you is the trail in front of you, and the trail behind you. And you become humbled. And then you hear the grumbling. So you tell your stomach to keep quiet, and book it 3 more hours to Kennedy Meadows where someone sees the glazed look in your eyes saying "my whole life for the past 5 days has been mostly walking alone on the trail (I finally got to spend 24 hours without seeing another person), and now there are people, a store, a restaurant and showers, I'm not sure what I am supposed to do," and does the only thing they can -- offer you a beer. Life is good on the PCT. My next mail stop will be at June 24th. I can be reached at the following address: Roger Wolff c/o General Delivery South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150 While I'm not hiking, I have been busy pressing a green "Launch" button on a Kickstarter project of mine. Please check it out. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1747436254/cryptic-all-stars Make sure to watch the video, and then send Ahing (ahinghuang@gmail.com) an e-mail saying something along the lines of "Holy cow! That was the best cryptic crossword related video I've ever seen!" Please don't feel obligated, but I would love it if you pledged.