Our plan now has changed. In Kennedy Meadows we met up again with O G (stands for Original Gangster because of his old style external frame backpack). OG is a guy the same age as Rob. We have been hiking at a similar pace since Mexico and leapfrogging every few days.

OG had similarly been planning to skip north to a less snowy section, but his plan was to go to Portland where his wife’s sister lives, then hike south from the Oregon/Washington border.

After much discussion we have decided to travel together with him and hike together at least for a while. We will share a car rental and are driving from Ridgecrest to Portland (18 hours 1535 km). This will be much cheaper and quicker than bus and train.

We have just picked up some resupply packages from Lake Isabella and stopped to get a milkshake from the recommended Nelda’s Diner. Great

Now it’s a long haul up the I5.