Date: June 16, 2017
Miles: 6.7 miles (10.8km), from mile 695,5 to Kennedy Meadows.
Health: Feeling a little tired from the heat.

Today is going to be the day we're reaching the official ending of the PCT desert section. While this is something everyone has been anxiously waiting, for me it's going to be a bitter sweet achievement as I had to skip a weeks worth of the trail and I don't really feel like I hiked all the way here.

I started out with the plan of hiking a continuous footpath from Mexico to Canada but trail logistics and getting injured got in the way. While I'm not the only one who has had to skip sections, and even though I'm planning on doing those skipped sections later, I just don't feel as good as I hoped to getting here. But I do feel great proudness and joy for my fellow hikers who have hiked the whole way here.

This morning we woke up with Fyre and saw no sight of the others. They had not rolled in during the night. I made a big stick arrow on the trail to point to the spot we were camping in.

Fyre got out fast and I left more slowly after her. I tried to eat some breakfast and went through my snack collection while hiking but just couldn't make myself eat any of the bars I had left. All I could think was the burgers and ice cold sodas at the KM General Store. I decided to skip breakfast and just get there fast.

As I got out of the forest we slept in, I could see how the scenery started to change. We were clearly still in the desert but the mountains around us looked different, more grey than the red and yellow ones we've seen for the past month and a half.

I quickly reached the Kern river that starts from the melting snow in the Sierra. By the river I met the three sisters we hitched with from Lake Isabella, and soon after them Fyre and Otter and Otters trail family. We all left in a big group and started to hike towards the junction to the Kennedy Meadows.

From the river the trail starts a slow, gradual climb. The air was getting really hot, even thought it wasn't even 9 o'clock yet. I started to run out of energy and stayed behind. Not eating a breakfast wasn't the smartest decision. I thought about eating something but I just couldn't stomach the idea of a Clif bar. Only three more miles, I can do that.

Soon we reached the 700 mile marker. For me that was about 560 mile marker. I took a quick photo but didn't feel any feeling of accomplishment. I hated that I had to skip, while at the same time, I knew it was the only option for me.

The trail soon reaches the Kern river again and there's an excellent spot for swimming. I stop for a moment to look at the river but I'm so hungry that I have to continue. I'm melting from the heat but I need to get that burger. Swimming can wait.

I keep looking at Guthooks to see the mileage even though I know it's a mistake. Zero point six miles. Zero point four miles. Zero point two miles. I wish I was there already.

I finally reach the junction to the KM General Store. From here it's a mile long road walk. The hard road feels really weird and hurts to walk on. I drink the last of my water and moments later I'm offered a ride to the store but I want to walk all the way and politely decline the offer.

Soon I see the sign and as I approach, I get applauded by reaching the end of the desert. It's an custom that when ever a new hiker gets in, everyone cheers and applauds them.

I'm too hungry to think of anything else except for food and drop my pack to the first possible spot and head to the grill. After a moment of stumbling around, I find the small window where you make orders but I'm told the grill is closed. They closed at 10am. It's 10.05am.

I'm told they open again at 11am so I head to the store to get some ice cold soda to fill my stomach with. I can't decide between Gatorade and Dr Pepper so I just get both. It's starting to get way too hot for me and it's only going to get hotter in the coming days. Thank god we're done with the desert.

I soon find a lot of familiar faces and hear from people I haven't seen in days or weeks. Blis is also here and we get to chill. It's been a while.  We watch and cheer all the new hikers coming in and when ever there's a familiar face, we go and greet them at the door. Everyone's happy to be here.

Finally the grill opens and I get my double cheese bacon burger. It's so good! I get more sodas and try to drink the heat away.

Then we see Queso coming in. And then, one by one, the rest of our tramily comes in. We're all together again! They tell us that they had seen the note we left them about the bear but had gotten there only this morning.

The rest of the day is spend opening everyone's resupply packages, wondering about all the new Sierra gear and how it's going to fit in our packs, and just goofing around with friends. I get another round of burgers and drink more sodas. The best part about thru-hiking is that you are required to consume as many calories as you possibly can.

I leave my resupply boxes for tomorrow. It's going to be interesting to see how all my Sierra gear and the bear canister are going to fit my new, smaller, 40 liter backpack. Luckily I only have to make it to Lone Pine, which is about three days away. That's where I shipped my larger backpack. That's also where I hope to have some connection to update my blog again.

I fall asleep again under the stars. In few days we're going to be above 10,000 feet (3km) in snow in the Sierra. I can't wait!

Date: June 15, 2017
Miles: 19.6 miles (31.5km), from mile 675.9 to mile 695.5.
Health: My legs are very tired from all the climbing yesterday. Shin feels good.

The wind kept whirling around the saddle and while we were camping little bit below, it still got to us a little. I woke up few times during the night and the stars were really beautiful.

As my alarm went off at 4.45am I turned it off and turned on my side so I could see the sun rising behind the mountain range far in the distance, slowly starting to illuminate the Mojave desert floor far below us. What a view to wake up to!

Otter and Fyre were still asleep so I didn't rush out of my sleeping bag, instead I just gazed at the beautiful sunrise for an good 45 minutes. Then I noticed Otter was getting up so I started to get moving also.

Otter was fast out the camp as she wants to make the 23 miles to the Kern River before evening. Fyre and I are only doing about 17 miles to a campsite with a water source so we are in no rush. We're hoping that the rest of our tramily catches up to us today.

The trail goes down first for about 2.5 miles and then follows along the valley floor for the rest of the way to our first water source. The trail is easy and flat so we can just easily cruise while eating breakfast.

We fill our water bottles, eat the second breakfast and start getting ready for the 2,500 feet (762m) climb up from the valley. We heard some rumors about possible trail magic on the road before the climb but sadly there was none.

The climb is much better graded than the one we did last night. But it's still a long climb. After about hour and a half I stop at the last water source before our camp. The spring is at about one third of the way up the climb and I'm already winded. That's what resting for a week does to your legs.

I take a rest at the spring and eat early lunch as I'm still hungry. More people show up and we have an early siesta. But we can't stay for too long as the sun is getting higher and we still have a long way to climb.

After about an hour of climbing I catch up to Fyre while she's having a water and snack break in a small shade little off the trail. The trail climbs through a burn area so there's very little shade to be found. We sit on a log and talk about the others, wondering where they are and how we miss them.

As we're almost up we get back on the hot trail and start hiking towards the top. We can already see it in the distance. I reach the top first and as I turn around the corner I just start yelling in joy. Fyre is just few steps behind me and as she sees what I'm seeing, she starts yelling as well. We see a long line of tall, snow capped mountains. The Sierra Nevada mountain range. Our next destination.

The desert section is so close to the end and finally seeing the Sierra makes it feel so much more real. We can't believe we've made it this far.

From here we start the climb down to the last valley before the Sierra. Down there there's a small spot called Kennedy Meadows where all our Sierra gear is waiting for us. But we first have to reach it. Blis is pushing there already today, but we're fine getting there tomorrow and doing an easier day.

While seeing the mountains brought a smile on my face, it soon fades as the hot sun and trail melts me at every step. Even if we're going downhill, it still feels like I'm just draining energy. I rest at every possible shade but the trail just keeps going. 

Finally I see the valley ahead of me and start the last descent. At the bottom there's a small stream and a camp site but very little shade. Fyre's already there. I drop myself and my gear in the shade and complain about the heat.

More hikers show up and we talk about the rumors that there's a bear that comes up to this campsite. While others head on to different sites closer to Kennedy Meadows, we stay here with Fyre as it's the one where our friends probably will make it tonight. It's the only spot where they could camp unless they'll do a really short day.

As others leave, we set up our cowboy camps quite close to each other, just in case there's any truth behind those bear rumors.

As Fyre heads out to "little girls room", I stay in the camp and start making evening snacks. After I get my food bag from my backpack I turn around and right behind me I see a large creature looking at me. A black bear less than 30 feet from me on the stream. I freeze.

I start going through all the things to do when encountering a bear in my head. The first thing I remember is yelling. Then I remember Fyre is somewhere out there in the brush. So I yell "Um, Fyre, there's a bear in here!". I hear a "what?" from not far. "A BEAR!" I yell.

I turn back to the bear and just as I'm about to yell at her, I remember, a photo! No one's going to believe me without a photo. Luckily my camera is right next to me and I quickly take two photos. I'm certain that she knows I'm there but she starts coming closer so I yell at her. No reaction. I yell louder and also yell at Fyre as the bear is moving to her direction. Again no reaction from the bear. She doesn't seem to be afraid of humans at all. Not good.

She's now about 20 feet from me so I take a large rock and throw it as close to her as I dare. As the rock is leaving my hand I start thinking how wise it is to anger a huge furry beast who's that close to me, thinking she can charge the gap between us before I can even start yelling out "mommy".

The rock hits a pile of rocks next to her and she jumps and retreats back to the stream. Thank god. But she's still way too close for comfort. I keep yelling at her but as there's no reaction, I throw another rock at her. It lands right next to her in the stream and she retreats to the brush. Fyre comes over right as the bear disappears from view.

I can still hear her not far and we decide that we're not camping here. As she's still close by, looking at us from the brush, I chase her off one more time. She still doesn't go far, but far enough that we feel safe to back up our things.

As we're leaving we leave a note for the others about the bear. It will be completely dark when they get here but hopefully they'll see it.

As we climb out of the camp the light starts to fade and it starts to get dark. We take out our headlamps and hike on. We make jokes that the only thing missing from this would be to run into a rattlesnake tonight. Less than fifteen minutes later I jump as there's a rattlesnake right next to the trail preying. Great!

We decide not to make any more jokes about any animal encounters and move on, giving the snake enough space. Two miles out we find a perfect spot and we set up our camp again.

Tomorrow we hit the Kern river in the morning and then make our way to Kennedy Meadows and officially end the PCT desert section. It's time for the Sierras! And I got to see a bear!

Date: June 14, 2017
Miles: 19.1 miles (30.7km), from mile 656.9 to mile 675.9.
Health: Feeling great! Still careful not to put too much stress on the right leg.

Fyre had setup an alarm but we somehow missed it and woke up at 6am. We could watch the sun rise over the desert floor from our sleeping bags, it was so nice to be back here again. Sadly we couldn't enjoy the view for too long as we had to get some miles in before the heat returns.

The weather report is predicting +100 degree (38c) weather here in few days. I'm so glad to be out of here by then but feel bad for the ones behind us. Today is thankfully "cooler", with the highs of 85 (29c).

Fyre leaves before me and I'm soon hiking after her. I catch up to her as she's eating breakfast on the side of the trail, looking over the Mojave from high up the mountain.

The trail is really beautiful. We're now in the Southern Sierra Nevada mountains and you can slowly see the desert starting to change. The trail follows along the mountain range and we're constantly climbing upwards. It doesn't feel that bad as the grade is very subtle.

My new backpack feels amazing. I was a bit worried about going hipbeltless but it actually feels really liberating to hike without the hipbelt.

On one of the saddles I notice writing on the trail. It says "Blis" with large letters. This is probably where he slept last night. We were only few miles apart.

I soon reach the first water source of the day and as I get closer I notice a piece of paper on a rock next to the water. It has all our names on it and inside Blis has left a message. He's doing a long day today. We could in theory catch up to him but I don't want to push too much with my recovering leg. And there's no rush, we'll make it to Kennedy Meadows on the same day anyway.

I sit down and have second breakfast. Fyre soon catches up to me, as does Taylor and the Swiss. We rest for an hour and fill our bottles. It's not a long carry to the next water.

As we left I take the lead on the trail and about mile out I'm stepping next to a rock when a snake dashes out from the other side of the rock and scares the living daylight out of me. I must have jumped a good feet or two. Not cool snake! It looked like a small baby racer snake which are not dangerous to us, but it still got me good.

Hiking feels easy and the miles go by fast. Soon I reach the next and last water source of the day. It's getting really hot so I setup my gear in the shade and start my siesta. No need to hike any more in the heat as it's getting close to midday and the hottest part of the day.

Fyre soon follows as does few others. After about an hour I hear a familiar voice coming down the trail and it's Otter. They've caught up to us. Otter's entire trail family follows along and there's a nice pack of hikers having a siesta around us soon. It's fun to swap trail stories with everyone.

The sun keeps moving and soon I run out of shade. I move my spot way down to the water where it's way cooler. I soon fall asleep.

As I wake up, it's about time to start hiking again. From here on, the trail climbs for quite a while. It's still hot but we need to get going as it's going to take few hours to get up.

I wet my bandana in the stream before I leave but it dries in few minutes in the heat. We snake up the hill in a long row, every now and then leapfrogging each other. I start way too fast because I'm so excited to be hiking again and soon run out of steam and need to slow down.

I set to my regular pace which allows me to hike easier without taking stops. At one point the grade gets so steep that I need to take out my second hiking pole to get traction. The mountain looks clearly different from the ones in the desert. Instead of yellow sandy rock, it's more granite and blue/grayish. The faces and drops from the trail are also steeper.

At one point almost at the top we run into an older southbound hiker who tells us that there have been a bear sighting not far where we are. Hi tells a story about how it apparently came to their camp. We're definitely getting closer to Sierra.

Finally I reach the campsite we had planned to camp on. There are two close to each other on a saddle. I check out the first one and it has great views down to the desert. As others are not here yet, I decide to hike forward to check out the other one. It's only few minutes from the first one.

As I reach the second camp it's all hidden in a thick brush and there are now views into any direction. Also there are already a lot of tents here. I decide to head back to the first one.

Fyre is already there setting camp and Otter arrives soon. We three decide to stay there while others push to the second one. I soon fall asleep watching the stars.

Date: June 13, 2017
Miles: 4.8 miles (7.7km), from Walker Pass to mile 656.9.
Health: Feeling excited to get back on the trail. Shin feels good but I haven't used it at all so I'm a bit worried how it's going to feel under stress. 

We woke up late. There was nowhere to go or be in the morning. I lazily get up around 7am and go to hang out with Fyre and Blis who are both up already. The plan is to walk a mile back to town to get coffee and breakfast.

As we're about to leave, the camp manager comes over and reminds us that the sprinkler system goes off in about an hour and we should move our tents and gear before that, if we don't want to get them all wet. We just pack all our gear as we're leaving sometime later today.

We take our packs to a shade and start walking to the breakfast cafe. As we get there we see it's absolutely slammed. We're hungry so we start looking for a new breakfast option. Fyre and I go to Subway while Blis gets some chicken from the gas station and joins us in the air conditioned Subway.

We do nothing but sit around and have goofy conversations. The Post Office opens at 10am so we have time to kill. We take turns guessing what each other's bedrooms look like. We start with Fyre's. Blis is way off but I nail it almost perfectly. Then we do Blis's and mine. That takes about an hour and the Post Office opens soon.

I have two packages waiting for me. One from Gossamer Gear and one from Pa'lante Packs. My new backpack has arrived! And we ordered foam pads from Gossamer Gear to add some warmth underneath us on the Sierra snow.

Just as we're outside the Post Office talking how we've not seen a single Pa'lante Pack on the trail, another hiker comes by with the same pack. It's Roadrunner and he got his pack here as well.

Crimson and Chillstep are having some difficulties with their packages. All the PCT resupply infos use General Delivery as the address for the Post Offices but this only works with USPS. When you order something from someone like Amazon, where you can't select the delivery company, your package can get lost or not delivered unless you use the actual physical address of the Post Office. It feels silly that a company like UPS can't find the Lake Isabella Post Office without the actual address on the package.

I'm so happy to have my new pack so I just head back to the RV park to test it out with my gear. Everything fits in perfectly and the pack feels great on my back. I was thinking of hiking the 50 miles from Walker Pass to Kennedy Meadows with the new pack and carry my old pack inside, but after Fyre called that plan "stupid", I went back to the Post Office and Priority mailed the old pack to Lone Pine.

I'm trying to see if I can fit my Sierra gear in the Pa'lante Pack in Kennedy Meadows. It's only three days from KM to Lone Pine so I'm sure I can make that no matter what.

On the way back from Post Office we stop by the Subway again and have lunch/dinner there as well. When we're leaving, we see Queso and Pony hop out of a car and going to the Post Office. We go say hi and then walk back to the RV park with them.

By now Blis has gone on with Wilder, Crimson, and Chillstep. When we get to the RV park we start wondering how we're getting up to the Walker Pass where the trailhead is. It's a 37 mile hitch up the mountain. As we're wondering this, I see a car pull up and a bunch of our friends piling out. I ran over to say hi and casually talk to the person who drove them here. I ask if she would be willing to do one more trip up the mountain and she agrees. Wohoo!

I call Fyre over and run to get my gear. Three sisters, who are section hiking, join us on the ride and we stuff all six of us into the car. The drive takes a while but we're finally up at the trailhead. We thank our driver, give her some money for the gas, and then shoulder our packs and start hiking. Man it feels good to be back!

The trail is basically all uphill and we climb up as the sun is slowly setting. We don't want to push it too much, and it's already late, so we only do 4.8 miles. We find a nice little camp spot on a saddle and set up our camp. Someone has build a small wind shelter there and we take advantage of that.

We look at the sunset but as it's cold, we quickly get into our sleeping bags. We've rested so much that we don't feel tired and end up talking late into the night while looking up at the stars. It's just Fyre and I. We wonder where everyone else is.

In few days we're going to be in Kennedy Meadows and officially be done with the desert. I'm already looking forward to Sierra.

Date: June 12, 2017
Miles: 0. 
Health: Feeling better. Shin feels good enough to walk on. 

It's Monday and finally time to start moving again. My shin feels like it has recovered well enough to hike and I can't wait to get back on the trail again.

Crumbs is going with Legend to Kennedy Meadows. Chopsticks, Fyre and I are taking the bus to Lake Isabella, and I'm dropping Poison Ivy and Camp Counselor at the Highway 58 and they're continuing their hike.

I first drop off the girls at the Highway 58 and then drive to Willow Springs road to drop off Crumbs. Once there Legend invites me in and we have a breakfast. Soon we make a change of plans and I'm going to drive Legends truck and trailer to Lake Isabella, and he drives his RV with Crumbs.

As Legend still has few errands to do before we can head out, I drive two sets of hikers back to town. Then we find one hiker to drive Legends truck with me to town so that I can drop off Rachel's truck, pick up Fyre and Chopsticks, and get my gear. As I'm doing this, I see someone waiving at me across the road in town by the bakery and as I slow down I see Poison Ivy and Camp Counselor. What are they doing here? I just drove them to the trailhead earlier in the morning.  

The girls tell me they had turned around due to the strong winds and were skipping with us to Lake Isabella. What a great timing! They hop on and I drive back to the house to pick up Fyre and Chopsticks. Then we head back to Willow Springs road trailhead.

After everything is ready we get on the road. I can only drive 45 miles per hour as the breaks on the truck are not the best, and the heavy trailer behind the truck is so heavy.

After a long drive we make it to the Walker Pass, which is the spot where PCT hikers hitch down to Lake Isabella. It's a 37 mile hitch so it's not the easiest.

At Walker Pass we meet Copper Tone again, and few of our trail friends. Otter is there and we find out our timing was perfect as she's celebrating her 21st (I think?) birthday today. We make plans to celebrate once in town  

Our celebration is cut short as we're offered a ride to town and we graciously accept. As we're driving down I get a message from Blis that he's staying at the RV park. So that's where we're heading too.

We all get dropped off at the RV park and hobble in to get our spots on the beautiful green grass. It feels so soft! The place is full of our trail buddies so it's great to be here.

It's quite windy and Fyre and I struggle to get our shelters up. It's been way too long since I last pitched my tarp.

Derek and Kelley come over to tell us that everyone is going to the Moose Lodge close-by to watch the NBA finals, drink $6 pitchers, and eat burgers. Soon we're all there enjoying ice cold beer and burgers.

Fyre, Blis, and I stay longer and talk with the owners of the bar about hiking, country music, and traveling. Once we start heading out we're told there's a short cut to the camp but it's dark so we're not quite sure if we're going the right way. On the way I go through a narrow passage and didn't see the barbwire behind me and rip my down jacket open from the back real good. There's a big hole on the back and I can barely hold the down in. In camp Fyre helps me fix the hole with Tenacious tape. Good as new!

We have few more beers on the bonfire and then head to bed. Tomorrow we get back on the trail and I feel so excited.

Date: June 7 – 11, 2017
Miles: 0. 
Health: Healing from shin splints. 

The next morning I wake up to a strange sound. Chickens? I turn around and see four chickens surrounding Blü who’s soundly asleep. They hop on top of him one by one and next go around me. I spend the next half an hour watching the chickens doing their thing around the patio and front yard.

After the chicken watching I go inside and find everyone in the kitchen eating breakfast. Rachel's husband is making us breakfast and I'm soon offered pancakes and eggs. Today's a zero day so no one is in a rush.

We spend the day chilling in, watching movies and resting. Once you stop hiking, you feel like you've been hit by a truck, every muscle in your body hurts. Funnily this all disappears when you get back on the trail, but in towns we're lazy, slow moving creatures.

My shin is still hurting badly. I don't know what to do with it. I can't go out now, and if this is shin splints, it's not going away in a day or two. I'm getting afraid that this injury is going to hinder my hike.

Zeroing

Everyone enjoys our stay at Tehachapi and at Rachel's so much that our one zero turns to two, and then three. We go to movies to watch the new Pirates movie, go to the farmers market, eat, rest, and enjoy our stay.

While others are getting ready to go out the next day, Rachel comes up to me and tells me not to go out with my shin. She tells me what I already know, if I hike on with my shin splints, I risk getting a stress fracture and that would most likely end my hike. She tells me that while they are going out of town with their entire family for a hike, I would be welcome to stay at the house and rest. There would be also few other hikers coming in and staying. We would be housesitting and looking after the animals and plants.

I thank Rachel for her offer but I don't want to stay and watch everyone else hike on. But that night I also have a talk with Blü and my options are quite clear: hike out with hurting shin and risk a stress fracture, or stay back and rest for few days and then get back on the trail. This makes everything pretty clear.

I decide to stay back and rest my shin. The next morning I tell Rachel that I'd like to take her up on her offer and stay back. While they are leaving, she tells me to give rides to other hikers and bring two other hikers in from trail. They are joining three of us who are staying at her place.

The next section is about 100 miles and it's going to take others around five days to complete. This, with the zeros we already took, gives me about a week of rest. That should be enough to heal.

Now I have to decide weather to stay behind my trail family, or skip to Walker Pass and meet them there. I don't like the idea of skipping, but if I stay behind, I won't catch them before the Sierra. And going to Sierra alone, or with people I don't know, is a risky move. With all the snow, you want to go in with people you trust and know.  I would have to do 8 days of hiking in 3 days. I can't do that.

The snow pack in Sierra is so big this year that I want to go in with people that I trust so I have no other option than to skip a 100 mile section of the trail. This spoils my continuous footpath to Canada, but things don't always go as you want.

Trail angeling

It's time for everyone to get back on the trail. As everyone is getting their gear ready, I feel bad. I don't like staying behind, I feel like I'm going to miss out.

Everyone gets on the truck and I drive them to the trailhead. As we approach the highway 58 trailhead, I see a lone hiker in the distance coming in. As it's a hard spot to hitch, I make a mental note to offer him a ride before I leave.

We say our goodbyes and everyone's getting ready. I notice Fyre isn't looking good, actually she's looking really really sick. After watching her for awhile, I try to tell her not to go out but she tells me she's fine. The weather is really windy and actually cold. Everyone leaves and I go and pick up the lone hiker. He introduces himself as Neon and I give him a ride back to town. It takes about 20 minutes to get back as the distance is quite long.

I drop Neon at the hotel and go get some food. Just as I'm driving back to the house my phone rings, it's Fyre. She sounds really bad and asks if I could in anyway come and pick her up from the trailhead, she's too sick to hike. I tell her absolutely and turn the car instantly around.

In about half an hour I'm back at the trailhead but no sight of Fyre. It's getting dark and the wind is really hard. I take out my headlamp and start walking down the trail. Soon I see two hikers far in the distance. As they approach it's Fyre and Blü. He wanted to make sure that Fyre got back alright. Blü fills his water bottles back up and then heads back out to the dark night.

I drive Fyre and I back to the house. She goes to sleep and pretty much spends the next three days sleeping. Good things she turned around as she was really sick.

For the next days I pretty much work as a trail angel. I give hikers rides back and forth the town and trailheads. When ever I get to either end, there's always more hikers in need of a ride. Pretty soon my phone is ringing constantly as more hikers hear that I'm giving rides and I have to start getting more organized. One of the hikers, Crumbs, who's staying at Rachel's, helps me out and drives with me for few days.

While in Tehachapi I also meet another Finnish hiker. She did a section of the PCT. It was great speaking Finnish for a while. Although speaking about the trail is a bit hard as all the terms are in English so we constantly find ourselves switching to English words.

One day I also go get two hikers who are also staying at Rachel's. I pick up Camp Counselor and Poison Ivy from the trailhead and give them a lift to the house. We spend few day hanging out.

The days go by fast and my shin is starting to feel a lot better. The shin guard that I bought for it also helps.

I keep hearing messages from the trail that it's really windy. A lot of the people I take up to the trail, I end up picking back up as they turned around due to the strong winds.

Fyre and I start to make plans on how to get back on the trail in Walker Pass.

Date: June 6, 2017
Miles: 8.8 miles (14.2km), from mile 549.7 to Willow Springs Road.
Health: My right shin hurts so bad I can barely walk.

I slept like a rock. The night was cool and I had set up my camp on soft pine needles. I woke up to others rustling their gear. I turned around and saw that Blis and Sunshine were still sleeping so I didn't hurry. We only needed to do little over 8 miles to the Willow Springs road to hitch to Tehachapi so there was no rush.

After a lazy start, I head out with Blis and we're soon walking among the hundreds of windmills. The rest of the trail goes through the massive wind farm.

Few miles in my shin starts to hurt bad again and I pop the strongest painkillers I have to numb the pain. As the medicine kicks in, I can walk like normal and I'm enjoying the hiking immensely again.

As we see the road in the distance, we get cell reception and both Blis and I call home. He stays a little back and I keep hiking, talking with my mom and dad and brothers.

A little before I reach the road the painkillers start to wear off and my shin starts to hurt again. This doesn't look good for my hike. I can't keep eating painkillers to just be able to hike small days.

As I'm almost at the road I see a familiar blue frisbee, Copper Tone is here! I limb to the road and see not only Copper Tone but Legend too. Double trail magic!

I sit down and get a soda from Legend and soon Copper Tone brings me a root beer float. This is my first time having a root beer float and it's really good. It's basically ice cream in root beer and on the hot trail it tastes absolutely delicious.

Others are there as well and soon get a ride to town. Me and Blü stay behind.

After a while of sitting around and talking with Copper Tone, it's time to get to town. Blü, Birddog, and I start trying to hitch. We stand in the sun by the road and try to look our best but no cars stop.

We're about to give up as a white SUV pulls over and a nice lady offers to take us all the way to Tehachapi. We hop in, happy to be out of the hot sun.

As we're driving down to town I get a message from Pony and she tells they have been invited to stay over at an trail angel's house and me and Blü are also invited. That sounds really good!

We get dropped off at the front of the small mall in town and after thanking the lovely lady for our ride, Blü and I head out to eat. I'm starving for some town food and we go for some sushi.

After stuffing ourselves with ice cold sodas and sushi we head to the grocery store close by. Pony messages that they'll come to pick us up but it's going to take a few hours. To kill some time we get more sodas and then head to Taco Bell. We sit in the air conditioned fast food joint and drink endless drinks, talking with few fellow thru-hikers who were eating there.

Pony messages that they are coming to town and that they will pick us up at the grocery store. We move there with Blü and soon everyone arrives. After doing some grocery shopping we stuff all of us into the car and drive to the trail angels house.

Once we got to the house, we saw how amazing it was. The house was perched on the foot of a mountain, and Rachel, the trail angel whose house we were staying at, had made it a real haven. Her family consisted of four beautiful children, her husband, a dog, a cat, and four chickens.

The moment we got there she welcomed us to her house and life. She offered us not only her house, the change do laundry, take a shower, clean loaner clothes, and food. She had made us a nice, big dinner and we ate it at her backyard. The whole house was filled with peace and love, and I felt at ease from the moment we stepped in. I couldn't believe how lucky we were.

After the dinner we had to go back to town as Roller needed to get there. She was leaving us for her real world needs. She and her husband were moving to a new home and she needed to be there to organize everything. We were sad to see her go but we're happy to have hiked with her for as far as we had.

We all said our goodbyes to Roller and wished for her quick return to the trail with us. It felt bad to have a member of our trail family leave, even if we knew she would eventually get back on the trail.

We drove back to the house and after few beers went to sleep. Blü and I set our sleeping bags on the front patio as it was quite hot inside. Everyone else slept on the large living room mat and sofas.

When I was getting to sleep I noticed I had completely forgotten to document the day after we got off the trail.

I hope a few days rest would get me shin back to hiking order, everyone is zeroing here.