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.

Today was a brisk enjoyable 8 miles before getting to Kennedy Meadows – and an all you can eat pancake breakfast at the General Store. We were greeted with a cheer (as is every arriving hiker) by the large group of hikers already there.

They even made statues of us.

This makes 2 milestones – passing 700 miles, and getting to the end of the Southern California desert section. The latter is the most meaningful to us. Everyone who plans or does the PCT sees Kennedy Meadows as the gateway to the Sierras as well as the end of the usually hot desert section.

In a low snow year we might have started straight into that section. In a normal snow year most people would start around June 15. In this year’s heavy snow we cannot wait around for the snow to melt enough so are skipping north. Hopefully we’ll be back at Kennedy Meadows later.

After breakfast we got a lift down to Ridgecrest where we are staying in a motel and planing our next moves.

Today’s journey was pleasantly different as it was mostly downhill and we could enjoy some varied scenery and terrain. The last 5 miles was over the floor of an alluvial valley. The soil was white granite gravel vegetated with both desert succulents and sparse conifer forests.

We took some water from a pretty creek and moved quickly on to the tentsite as we could see storm clouds looming ahead.

We are pretty quick at getting organised and had the tent up and a hot dinner eaten before the first drops of rain fell. After hot drinks in the tent we are ready for an early night and are hoping for good sleep.

Today’s milestone – we passed the one quarter mark.We are glad we started early because straight away we had a steep ascent in the cool of the morning. The day heated up and we had more ups and downs. Somehow it always seems that there are more ups than downs!For lunch we feasted on a fresh sandwich that we had bought in Onyx the day before.Can someone with better access to Google please identify this little mouse?We have camped on a saddle at 7000′ which has great views but the wind is picking up so we might be in for a cold and noisy night.

Last night we were both woken in the middle of the night by a terrible noise. It was like the screaming of a tortured animal punctuated by the barking of a dog. It was completely dark outside and the sound was not close so we tried to get back to sleep but it was quite unsettling.

We are currently hiking in the habitat of the endangered Californian desert Tortoise but he has remained elusive. This Hare however was in no hurry this morning and obligingly posed for a photo in the sun just below the trail!

This section of the PCT – from Tehachapi to this point – has been particularly beautiful with the trail passing through sheltered forest in the higher reaches and back to desert terrain lower down.

At about 3:30 pm we reached water at the campsite we were aiming for after hiking 22 miles in good time. We were able to hitch a ride into a tiny one store town where we ate enormous sandwiches and followed with ice-cream. We bought a few snacks for the trail before catching a ride back to the campsite.

We had planned to exit here at Walker Pass but, since we made good time getting here, we have decided to push on through to Kennedy Meadows to complete the desert section of the PCT. We now expect to be on trail for another 2 1/2 days and hope our warmer and drier weather lasts.

We started off at 6:40am and made good ground in the cool early hours with fine weather, a good path and an easy descent to start us off.

Perhaps because we were relaxed with less effort, we noticed more wildlife through today’s hike. Small chipmunks ran across in front of us and we saw a few small white furry (? mice) scuttle along the trail in front of us, moving much faster than we could. We also saw a snake slither into a bush to the side of the track and, on closer inspection, discovered it to be a rattle snake requiring us to make a small detour to keep a safe distance.

Today’s milestone: around midday we passed the 1000km mark which was conveniently signed for us along the track.

The afternoon saw us climb to the top of a rocky hill with splendid views over the desert and nearby hills. Descending again we finally came to the water cache which was well stocked and, having completed 22 miles, we decided to leave the next ascent for the morning when we are breakfasted and feeling fresh. Also this way we avoid dry camping further along.

Today was similar to yesterday – started out bleak (but no rain or snow) and cleared up to become warmer with more sun. All In all we did 22 miles, which seemed more tiring than usual for some reason.

The trail was quite pretty with pine forests, streams and twittering birds.

Today’s mile-cone: we passed the 600 mile mark.

Nice as the Holiday Inn was, we were starting to get cabin fever. In the morning we could see that snow had fallen on the surrounding hills. Trail angel Jeff again gave us and two other hikers a lift back to the trail where we commenced a 2000′ climb, at times battling against strong winds.

We hiked up into the clouds and found snow and ice clinging to the trees.

Over the summit, the weather improved although it was still cold (I guess about 5 deg). Also we encountered some long stretches of mud.

But it was great to be hiking again and we put in 21 miles before setting up camp in a sheltered spot, with the background hum of yet another wind farm.

Although we are keen to get back on the trail, the forecast of rain and snow and overnight temperatures of zero, prompted us to book a fourth night in the motel. Hopefully we will get back on the trail tomorrow morning.

Still, we had a relaxing day. In the morning we went to a nearby church. They were very friendly and welcoming.

Afterwards we went to a popular bakery and enjoyed some sandwiches and pastries. We were served by a lady from Melbourne, and I had a Bundaberg ginger beer.

The afternoon was not so encouraging, as we read more and more Facebook accounts of hikers grappling with crazy weather up and down the trail. Most people are opting to move off trail for some time until conditions improve.

As we said yesterday, we are staying another night in Tehachapi due to forecast bad weather. But the morning was supposed to be OK so we took the opportunity to do an 8 mile section from one trail/road intersection to another.

The flowers above are Californian poppies, the state floral emblem.

After waiting till 10am to post some boxes, we were fortunate to be able to join another hiker who had the same idea. He had organised a lift both to and from the trail points.

So we had a beautiful sunny day cruising along with virtually no gear, just water, snacks and rain clothes. This is known as slack packing.

The photo above shows why Tehachapi is renowned for its wind farms. You may not be able to see but there are hundreds of turbines in the above 360deg view.

Trail angel Jeff (shown above) gave us a lift back to Tehachapi (thanks Jeff). The photo also shows the point where Cheryl Strayed (from the book/movie Wild) started her PCT journey.