Week 7-8

 It's been a very full two weeks for Darrell and I both.  This is a long one...buckle up!

This happened right outside Tehachapi.

And then this happened!

Corey Costelloe, who lives in Tehachapi and is a Team World Vision runner whom Darrell had never met before, volunteered to pick Darrell up and host him overnight.  In their conversations getting to know each other, Corey's podcast for the city of Tehachapi came up and he asked Darrell if he would like to be interviewed about his PCT hike and fundraising.  Corey dropped Darrell off in the morning on the trail and then picked him up that afternoon eight miles later to bring him back to town for the podcast interview.  After the recording, he was dropped off at the spot where he was picked up to finish out the day on the trail.  We are so grateful for the hospitality and support and enthusiasm Corey provided for Darrell.  The link to the podcast is below.  It is very good.

http://tehachapod.libsyn.com/waterboy-stops-in-tehachapi-on-pct-fundraising-journey?tdest_id=1917599 

I love pictures of the trail, and I only wish that the path was this smooth the whole way.

And when the  trail that is adorned with beautiful wildflowers it seems like it couldn't get any better!

Travis Reynolds from Nipomo, who hiked the 211 mile John Muir Trail last year with his wife and three sons, met Darrell at Walker Pass and took him to Ridgecrest.  He treated Darrell like a king, providing meals and lodging and companionship and rest.  He also helped him with his technology, which should be easy, but it is not intuitive for us.

The landscape changes as you get closer to Kennedy Meadows, where the California desert meets up with the Sierras.  It will be a welcome change of scenery, and there will be plenty of water along the trail.

Along the trail  are people who provide "Trail Magic" for the hikers.  This is Chris who made a bountiful breakfast for the hikers who spent the night at Landers Meadow Campground.  These kindnesses provide not only nutrition for the body but encouraging food for the soul.

A garter snake that crossed his path, literally, stretching out over what looked like six feet or more.  I struggle with downloading videos so I wasn't able to show the video of him slithering across the path.

Darrell's next stop was Kennedy Meadows, where I would be picking him up and bringing him home for a few days before he begins his trek across the High Sierras.  He was so motivated that he hiked 30 miles in one day, arriving at his camp after 1:00 am where he cowboy camped before hiking the last three miles the next morning, reaching another milestone.  

I picked him up in Kennedy Meadows on Thursday.  There I met many of the hikers Darrell has encountered who were also stopping off.  Most of them were from out of the country.  It is amazing what we take for granted in our own backyard, when people from all over the world take four to six months away from home to travel across the globe to do this hike.  Darrell introduced me to a couple whose trail names were South and Africa.  Guess where they were from!  

A wind and snow storm was predicted in the Mount Whitney area, about a 2-3 days' hike away. He decided to come home to wait out the storm and spend Mothers' Day weekend in Nipomo and barbecue for his mom and head back on Monday.  He had originally allowed for an up to three week stay at home in his schedule if snow conditions were prohibitive, so only staying a few days at home has put him ahead of schedule for his hike, giving him a little wiggle room to finish up by October.

What a whirlwind this stay at home was!  He brought back with him a hiker from Germany whose trail name is Sweetheart.  It was hard to get used to calling a grown-a$$ed man Sweetheart.  I think I finally asked him his real name after three days!  He was a delight to have in our home.  He cooked us a delicious meal with salmon, gazpacho, eggplant, zucchini, and a tomato and cucumber salad with feta.  Our table overflowed.  Then the next night he used the leftovers and made a completely different meal!  He was such a pleasure to have him in our home.  

This is what your entry way looks like with two hikers resting their feet and preparing for the next leg of the hike.  Darrell exchanged the trail shoes he has been using with boots to help him in the snow and granite.  He also packed some water shoes for the stream crossings he will be doing so he can keep his boots dry.  Sweetheart updated his shoes also.  His parents had sent a new pair to him in a package he picked up at Kennedy Meadows along with more food.  He took the opportunity to get new inserts for his shoes.

While we were home, our super fans, Robert and Laura Horch, treated us to lunch at the Quarter Deck.  They have been following people on YouTube for  many years who have documented their hikes on the PCT.  They are so excited Darrell is doing this hike.  They actually hope to do an epic bike ride through Idaho some day.  They check Darrell's progress every day on his Garmin app and check for blog updates regularly.  They also are tracking some hikers this year  who left around the same time as Darrell, and they are always looking in the background of the videos to see if Darrell walks by!

Laura loaded both Darrell and Sweetheart up with brownies and Snickers to take on the trail.

The next section of the hike is 207 miles through the beautiful High Sierras.  There are a few places a hiker can opt to hike off trail 5-7 miles downhill one way, hitch a ride into town, buy supplies, hitch back to the trailhead, and hike the 5-7 miles back uphill to rejoin the trail.  Sweetheart, being a younger man (37 years old), encouraged Darrell to just make the hike straight through without resupplying, carrying 15 days of food to get him through to the other side at Reds Meadow near Mammoth Lakes.  Since they are out of the desert, water is abundant along the trail, so they wouldn't need to carry the full five liters of water they had been carrying up to this point.  They shed about 7 pounds of water, but their food ended up weighing 17 pounds!

Bear canisters are required on this part of the hike, so the trick was getting all 15 days worth of food in the container. They all are carrying a container like this.  There seemed to be no way to get that much food in there and seal it tight.  

After unsuccessfully packing and unpacking more than once, a fool-proof scheme was hatched. You simply grind up your dried food in the blender and put it in a zip-lock bag so that air pockets are eliminated.  Yes, these are bbq potato chips in the blender.  Every meal was blended and placed in a bag.  Just measure out what you need and add water to cook it.  (But not the potato chips--these you just sprinkle over your meal to add extra flavor--I kid you not).  I figured they could leave their dentures at home since they wouldn't be chewing anything for two weeks.  They actually would need their teeth after all, because of all the candy bars they were able to fit in (folded and smashed) after all that compaction.   Thank you, Laura!  They figured they could carry the brownies outside the canister and scarf them down the first day.  

I dropped Darrell and Sweetheart off in Kennedy Meadows on Monday where they started off with Larissa from Austria (trail name Heidi!).  They all walk at different paces, with Darrell being the slowest.  Heidi will be stopping off to resupply at Kearsage Pass and Sweetheart will eventually be pulling away from Darrell.  His Visa expires in September, so he has to cover ground more quickly.  Please pray for Darrell.  This is a beautiful but long and tough part of the hike.  It is also forecast to be near freezing in the higher elevations.  Please pray for stamina, good health, safety, and the companionship of fellow hikers.

I would encourage you to follow Darrell on his Garmin.  He updates it every evening.   https://share.garmin.com/pctwaterboy

Also, if you would like to donate to World Vision for clean drinking water, please use this address:

https://www.teamworldvision.org/participant/pctwaterboy

So far, $45,803 has been donated!  Thank you, everyone!