PCT Day 34

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PCT Day 34, 15 June 2022 (Wednesday)

”Bubble Trouble”

Start Location:	Wilderness Campsite	Destination:	Kennedy Meadows South
PCT Miles Day 34:	17.2	Cum PCT Miles:	702.2
Non-PCT Miles Day 34:	0.9	Cum All Miles:	731.2
PCT Miles Remaining:	1,950.4
Elevation Gain Day 34:	1,822	Cum Elevation Gain:	121,915

 

One thing that happens on the PCT, especially the first 100 miles, is that you get a bubble of people.  Over time these bubbles should mostly diminish as people spread out, people quit their hikes, and people follow different schedules.  The main reason only 50 permits a day are issued is to prevent very large bubbles.

I am now at Kennedy Meadows, and there is a new, very large bubble of people here.  There are more people than would normally be here, or should be here.  The problem goes back a few days, as I mentioned in a prior post, when unfounded rumors started spreading about tainted water in several springs between Tehachapi and Walker Pass.  Many people skipped about 60 miles of trail and are now at Kennedy Meadows, when they should be several days away from here.

Hopefully, the bubble will spread out again.  But, the first week or so in the Sierra this could pose a problem in finding good tent sites.  Unlike most of the PCT in the So. CA section, the Sierra will also be chock full of overnight and multi-night backpackers.

Anyway, I’m at Kennedy Meadows now, a day early even.  So, instead of tomorrow being a nero, it will be a zero.  Getting to KM, is a big deal for PCT hikers.  In fact, when you walk up to the Kennedy Meadows General Store everybody on the balcony starts applauding.  Everyone there knows how hard it was to get through the thirsty Southern California section.  And we are now on the doorstep of maybe the most anticipated section of the PCT, the Sierra section.

 

I think a juvenile kingsnake

South Fork Kern River… I thought there’d be a lot more water in it

A Beaver Dam on the South Fork Kern River

 

700 Miles and now in the Sierra section

Kennedy Meadows General Store, a PCT mecca for many decades

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