June 1st, 2014
This post is a bit out of order, its meant to be read before 'Hitchhiking'.
I just finished an awesome weekend in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks with a great old friend of mine. He was nice enough to pick me up in Wrightwood along with 4 other hikers and drive us all north.
This post is a bit out of order, its meant to be read before 'Hitchhiking'.
I just finished an awesome weekend in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks with a great old friend of mine. He was nice enough to pick me up in Wrightwood along with 4 other hikers and drive us all north.
I got to see the largest tree in the world, it's called the General Sherman tree and weighs about 2,770,000 pounds. Walking around groves of sequoias is an amazing feeling, like you've been transported back to a prehistoric time. We also saw a black bear cub and a gigantic waterfall, which was especially shocking considering how little snow is in the Sierras.
Right now, I am sitting in the shade of a tree in the pullout of a quiet mountain road. About one car passes my direction every 10-20 minutes. They have mostly looked like local ranchers, and were uninterested in giving me a ride. I've never attempted to hitch-hike such a long distance, or from such a terrible location, yet I can't think of a better plan. Where I need to go is about a two hour drive up this road. Then I can pick up my resupply box and hit the trail.
The next segment of trail I'll be on is from Kennedy Meadows to Vermilion Valley Resort. It'll be my longest stretch yet at 200 miles. I'll hopefully be able to summit Mt. Whitney, if the conditions are right.
I'm a little nervous for this new section, just because of the unknowns, but that also adds to the excitement. Except for my current predicament of being somewhat stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, that's less exciting. My phone is showing service yet I can't make any calls. Damn you Sprint. It's been an hour already and things aren't looking any more promising, probably worse actually because the weekend traffic is dying down. It looks like people are only driving out of the mountains, coming home from a nice weekend out. I just hope I meet one going back in.
A man just stopped and offered me a ride in the other direction. He told me I have a good 75-80 miles to go, but I'm on the right road. I just need to be patient. I have plenty of food and water, I could sleep here if I needed to, I just hope it doesn't come to that.
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