MP 681   June 4
Started hiking at 5:30 am.  Covered 24  miles today climbing up and up into the high desert and on into a more alpine like environment.  It was cool and shady most of the day.  The desert is being left behind as we approach the Sierras.   Camped at Chimney Creek.   Just to orient people to where I am,   Walker pass is near the towns of Lake Isabella and Onyx.  I'm currently 30 miles north of there and will be in Kennedy Meadows tomorrow night, Monday.   The nights are much colder at this higher altitude.

  There was a bit of excitement this evening when a very healthy looking bear ambled down the road next to camp.   He was supremely unconcerned about my presence and disappeared into the woods within a few minutes.

MP 657 - June 3

  MP 657  - June 3

I had a pleasant hike out in the evening.   Watched the moon rise on one side of the ridge and the sun set on the other.  Kept hiking into the dark for about 5 miles. 

MP 651 Trail Angel Oakie Girl has set up a tent and is feeding the thru hikers. There are about 8 or 9 here. There is lots of food and beer and talk of the high sierras which are only about 50 to 100 miles off. The consensus is that crampons and ice axe are not necessary this year because of low snow conditions so I am leaving them behind to conserve weight. My current plan is to hike with a group of 3 other hikers from  Kennedy Meadows for the trek through the high sierras. My group will include Black Hawk, a commercial jet pilot; Hee Haw, bluegrass musician from Portland, Maine; and Malpractice, a doctor of internal medicine from Minneapolis. There ought to be a joke in there somewhere with a group like that one would think.
This has been a very relaxing and restful day. Hiked out at 7pm and got in 5 miles before camping on a windy mountain ridge.

MP 651 - June 3
Started hiking at 6:30 am and continued until 9 pm. Realized that in the last 48 hours I have hiked 61 miles. That's 2 back-to-back 30 plus mile days. Finally arrived at Warner Pass hiking under a full moon. My feet hurt.

MP 620 - June 2
Camped on a desert mountain ridge. The wind shrieked all night long. Good thing I don't use a tent.

MP 616 Kelso Valley Road Cache. Am laying over here until the heat abates. Sitting  under a Joshua tree which provides the only shade in this spare desert landscape. Suddenly I find myself voraciously hungry all of the time. I am told this is normal. I no longer have store of body fat to help me through the lean times.

MP 602 - June 1
Badly miscalculated my water and wound up with only 1.4 liters to get me to the next source at Robin Bird Spring12 miles away, temperature in the 90's, all uphill. Decided to hike at night to conserve water. Started at 8 pm hiking without a headlamp but aided by a bright gibbous moon. Climbing upward into the mountains the landscape appeared dramatically below with an otherworldly, dreamlike quality. Absolute silence. No wind. Heading through a stand of ponderosa pine a heard the sound of a large animal to my left, crashing through the undergrowth seeming to be coming straight at me. It suddenly emerged from the trees, looming in front of me. It was a cow.
Finally made it to Robin Bird Spring in the early morning hours. Passed the 600 mile mark at about 2 am.