Miles: 702.4 to 702.4

Mileage: 0

Day: 33

We slept in… until 7:30 a.m. I felt rested and warm in my sleeping bag. I wanted to be up by 8:30 to get in line for the laundry. So, 7:30 was a little earlier than I’d planned, but there you are. 

It was a day of chores: laundry, shower, eat, but last-minute supplies, eat, etc.

Because there is no Internet or cell service in Kennedy Meadows, making the necessary travel arrangements for our upcoming days off trail was more complicated. 

We had to use the only payphone in town and a calling card for everything. So what would have been a few quiet clicks on the smart phone turned into calling family members and having them Google stuff and dictate the Internet to us. Thanks, Annette, Terry, Mom and Dad for being our travel agents, personal shoppers and post masters.

 

 
Even though it took so much longer, we got the most important stuff done.

It was nice to have a day off our feet. Speaking of feet, remember the new shoes I was so excited to have finally ordered from the side of Owens Peak? Yeah. I ordered the wrong size. Two sizes too small. So, I will be hiking into the Sierras with my heaviest pack weight thus far in shoes I found in the give-away hiker box.

Pretty much every retail or lodging facility along the PCT and other thru-trails have a box of stuff left by other hikers that might still have some use to others. It could be uneaten dinners, half-empty bottles of sunscreen or fuel, used clothing, or old maps. We often use the hiker box to swap out snacks or dinners we’re sick of.

This time, I took shoes. There was a pair of Altras size 7.5 that were left by a lady who just needed a larger size. There weren’t many miles on them, so I took a gamble. 

It may be a horrible choice. And I won’t know until I’m out in the middle of nowhere.

Good thing I bought a fresh supply of ibuprofen.

 

  
Tomorrow we head out with a lot of food to try to cover a lot of miles. 

It should be beautiful and hard. Here goes.