Friday, May 28, 2010

Goodbye Desert Sky

It had been three days since I last spoke with Zac. He has been in a remote section and had no phone service. This afternoon I got a short call from him and he is doing fine. He had hiked 21 miles today. His total so far is around 650 miles. This morning he said he had hiked 9 miles before 9 am. Must have been a very early start. He said the trial was very sandy and very windy. For every two steps he was blown back one. His feet were sinking in the sand like he was walking on a sand dune. He met up with a hiker named "Freebird" from California. Freebird was a retired professional windsurfer who had hiked the PCT three times already. While they were going up a ridge, Freebird told him to look behind him, it would be the last time he saw the desert on this trail. He was leaving the desert and moving into the the Sequoia National Forest. He could also see for some distance south, all the way to the San Jacinto Wilderness near Iydllewild. He said he was glad to be out of the desert and ready for a new type of landscape. He is camping tonight with a group off hwy 178 about 21 miles from Lake Isabella. When he called me, Golden Child and himself had hitched a ride into town to recharge phones and get some supplies. Zac was in a pizza place filled with elderly grandmother types who were all playing bridge and having a grand time. He was way out his element here I could tell. He had eaten and was planning to buy a few pizzas to take back up to the trail where he had left some of his gear with a few hikers who were also camping there. After he reaches Kenendy Meadows,he will be out of phone service for quite a few days. Blog entries will continue but with very little details other than spots and land marks. The last spot I received tonight was 35.62768,-118.0773

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