Carrie arrived at Vermillion Valley Ranch on Sunday, June 17. She didn't have cell phone or internet service so asked me to update her blog. She may regret that request!!   

Who am I?  Mom.  Resupply box mailer.  Praying fanatic.  Scared and worried mama.  Excited and proud mother.  Cheerleader.  Hourly blog checker.  Health food, dense calorie, additional calorie, can't be losing weight this early in the hike shopper. My thoughts are consumed with Carrie - her happiness, health, safety and warmth.   My pride is tempered with worry. My excitement calmed by waiting for the next call.  While I know she has researched and prepared for this trip for 3 years, I still wait and worry.  But I am SO excited for her!

Carrie is a happy camper!! She is in the mountains and she is fishing!!  During this last leg of the hike, she caught 15 brook trout in 30 minutes at Rae Lakes. She received more tackle from her Aunt Lynn in her re-supply box at Vermillion Valley Ranch.  (To Lynn and Carrie, fishing gear is like candy!!)  Plus now being in the mountains, she is hiking slower and taking in all the amazing scenery. This latest resupply point required a ferry ride across a lake.  She has so many stories to tell!

Photos from the first 780 miles are up at http://www.flickr.com/photos/siestacarrie/ enjoy!!!

Today I slept in until 6:15, boy howdy, what a slugabed!

It was a relaxing day, we laid by several lakes on the way out towards Kearsaege Pass. I even spent a little time fishing and caught a little brook trout in Bullfrog lake.

As I met WeeBee on the top of the pass, we began to fantasize about food. We knew that there wasn't much in Independence except for a Chevron, a post office, a Subway, and a few hotels so our fantasies revolved around sandwiches with bacon and avocado. A nice couple at the top gave us little packets of baby food which were actually pretty good, although the weight to calorie ratio wasn't great.

We raced down the last 5 miles, dreaming of guacamole. When we got to the parking lot, a woman, who I though was Runs with Elk, waved us over and asked if we wanted anything, anything being salad, beer, soda, vegetables, Cheetos etc. Blue Sky was up from LA trail angeling for the day. We hung out with her and a few othwr theu hikers for a few hours. She was a god send and even gave us a ride to town. Thanks so much Blue Sky!!!

We got to town and decided to treat ourselves to a cabin at Mt. Williamson. It was totally worth it. We had taco truck tacos and ice cream for dinner. Yummy.

Tonight we are stayig with WeeBee's friend in Independence as the weather up in the mountains was pretty nasty looking. After another taco truck dinner and a fresh apricot dessert, we retired to our sleeping bags. We should be out on the trail tomorrow provided the weather improves.

Today I climbed Forrester Pass, in so doing, crossing the highest point on the PCT at 13,200 feet (Mt. Whitney was a side trail). I felt like I had been out of the desert and in the Sierras ever since leaving Kennedy Meadows, but man oh man, the north side of Forrester Pass was a whole different ball game. I dropped down into a glacier-carved valley, full of bubbling creeks, blue blue lakes, small (and manageable) snowfields, gnarled trees, and surrounded by jagged peaks. It was overwhelmingly beautiful. Really almost too much to take in.

WeeBee and I camped next to a river full of little golden trout. I went fishing but didn't have any luck.

All in all, it was. Mind blowing day. The kind of day that reminds you why you are hiking this crazy hike.

We, Pinco, WeeBee, Lightening Rod, and Andy, set out for Mt. Whitney at 12:10am. Our goal was to see the sunrise from the top of the contiguous united states' tallest point. It was a beautiful night, not too cold and with soooooooooo many stars.

We finally made it to the top, 14,509 feet, at about 4:20. We shuffled into the hut to change into dry clothes and then layer up. Pinco, WeeBee, and I found a rock out on the eastern edge of the peak and huddled in our sleeping bags for the big moment.

The ah rise was beautiful, bathing the surrounding peaks in pinks and golds. After the sun came up, I took an hour nap, waking up at 6:30am.

We stayed I top of the mountain until about 8:30, enjoying the views. Then it was time to head down as I really needed to poop and there was no appropriate place on top of the mountain.

I got back to base camp at lunch time and spent the rest of the day napping and reading and generally recovering from walking 32 miles in 24 hours (17 the day before into base camp and the 15 round trip up and down Whitney).

Kennedy Meadows consists of a general store, Tom's Place (a lot of travel trailers, Internet, and camping space for thru hikers), and Ireland's (someone's home slash restaurant...don't ask me, I didn't check it out). It was the perfect place to take a zero day. Usually when you're in town, you run around in a daze, doing chores: eating, finding a place to stay, eating, resupplying, eating, laundry, finding internet etc. At Kennedy Meadows everything but the place to stay and the Internet were at the general store. The rest was at Tom's. it was a totally relaxing break.

I can't say enough good things about the place. We watched Roadhouse in the outdoor "theater,", ate lots of burgers, lots of pancakes, and so much ice cream. It was just fantastic.

In a word, this section can be described as windy. But truly, windy doesn't even begin to cover it. We were still traveling through the wind farms if that gives you an idea of the relentlessness of this wind.

The wind truly started back at about mile 505, just before Hikertown. The wind continued for over 100 miles, meaning I was unable to wear my sombrero for over 100 miles as it would blow right off my head.

Other than the wind what happened? I saw a yearling black bear (don't worry, I clocked my poles and shouted and it ran away), I passed the 600 mile mark and started, just barely started to get out of the desert. Oh and I listened to a lot of podcasts and music to drown out the wind.

At mile 673, WeeBee, Kiddo, Runs with Elk and I had a ladies night sleep over. It was really wonderful having some girl time out on the trail. It was a very rare experience to have four if us in the same spot. I can't wait to hike with Kiddo some more in Northern California!

Oh right, and my hiker hunger really hit this section. It truly was all I could do to not eat all of my food by day 3 (out of 7). I was just ravenous.

As the group who had camped together last night inevitably congregated at the water cache 8 miles from the next road crossing, we began to discuss which town we would each be heading to. There were two options, Mojave and Tehachapi.

Each town had pros and cons. Tehachapi had a movie theater. Mojave had Motel 6 with $35.99 rooms. Tehachapi had thrift stores. Mojave was very compact and walkable. Tehachapi had small town character. Mojave...well to be honest, Mojae was a hot, windy, truck stop town and I am delighted that I had mom send my package to tehachapi.

I hitched in with WeeBee an Alaskan who shares my loves of bluegrass, "affordable" beer, and siestas. After putting out thumbs out for about 20 minutes, we were about ready to call it quits and call a local trail angel, when not one, not two, but three cars stopped at once to pick us up!

We asked the driver to brig us to a tasty restaurant, food being the number one priority (not looking good, feeling good, or safety as I had previously thought). I had a jumbo taco salad with melt in your mouth chunks of pork (just thinking about it makes my mouth water even though I just ate a burrito the size and weight of a 2 month old baby).

After getting food out of he way, we needed to find a place to lay our heads. The chain hotels (best western, la quinta etc) all wanted $120+ for a room. Yelp advertised the Ranch Motel as very affordable but only two stars. We eventually found are way to the establishment, picking up Runs with Elk on the way, and while the room didn't come with shampoo, it did come with three beds and only put us back $45 all together. Not bad at all.

Besides that it was a pretty standard town stop. We ate at an incredible bakery, I bought te next book in the Wheel of Time series (book 6: Lord of Chaos, if you're interested), and hung out outside of albertsons for close to four hours before hitting the trail. All in all a great little town.

Oh! Possibly the most important thing that I found: a thrift store. I knew that the Sierras were coming, and with them the triple threats of cold weather, Mosquitos, and postholing. I have been happily hiking in a skirt but felt that pants may be necessary soon. I found a treasure trove of old lady slacks at the Tehachapi Guild Thrift Store. I ended up chosing a pair of gold silk slacks which ride at the belly button and came ironed and have fabulous pleats. I love them. That is all there is to it :)

Disclaimer: in the next 20 posts or so I'm going to use the dictation option on my iPhone to speed things up. I'm only going to edit it minimally. We will see how it turns out!

I walked across the Mohave Desert today. At 6 AM it was so cold that I had to wear my mittens. I made 17 miles by 1:15 and stopped for a long siesta under a bridge at a water cache. Walking on top of the Los Angeles aqueduct was easy but the wind was insane, it was nice because it kept it cool though.

After the siesta we walked another 7 miles. The wind increased. It was in same. The wind mills were very loud and I could hardly stand upright. My sombrero almost lost my head not have to type tonight.

This morning was beautiful, all trees and meadows. The afternoon was burnt, deserty, and more about meandering amongst the foothills crap.

I got into hikertown at about five. Bambi, WeeBee, Legwnd, Beorn, Kim, Runs with Elk, and a section hiking couple were all there. I ended up sharing "Townhall" with Runs With Elk. We had a very comfy king size bed. Oh and did I mention the shower?

I also ate an amazing dinner While at hiker town. There was salad corner macabre cauliflower rolls mash potatoes and crockpot barbecue because it was so good and so worth the $10.

I had heard that the hikertown was a creepy place but I had a good time and wasn't creeped out at all. Later I heard from hikers that the owner was a little strange but nothing had happened I would definitely recommend staying. Just a note: there is a required "donation" of $10. It was totally worth it.