I reached the 700 mile mark on the trail yesterday afternoon. Besides having reached 700 miles, it was a very interesting and eventful afternoon, including rattlesnakes, a helicopter, and spagatti! I am taking a full zero today, June(correction)1st, here at Kennedy Meadows at mile 702.8. It will be my first zero day since Idyllwild back at mile 178. I'll be back on here to give everyone more detailed info on yesterday, some other good stories, and plans for the snowy high Sierras just fourty miles ahead. For now though, I'm going to grub on more pancakes here at T.A.s Tom's place and allow other hikers to utilize the computer. Happy trails!

Water Crossing

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

Mail Call

Today in Tehachapi Zac met a man at the post office named John who was retired. They began to talk about the trail and Zac told him some of the more interesting things that had happened so far. To make a long story short, Zac and the man hit it off and he offered Zac a ride all over town. He had his own personal shuttle. When Zac told him about losing his gloves, John gave him a brand new pair of ski gloves with the tag still on them. He gave them peanut butter and other treats for the trail. Zac really enjoyed his company and all of his help. John even gave Golden Child and Zac a ride up to the trail head. Zac shared some of his brownies with John that he had gotten from Nana and G Daddy. The life expectancy of a shipment of homemade brownies is greatly reduced in the presence of hungry hikers. This was no exception. These Brownies met their fate rather quickly and no mercy was shown. It was probably not a pretty site. R.I.P
The last spot I received from him was (35.11411,- 118.25778) He said from his tent he can see a bunch of windmills turning. There are many wind farms in this area. He is camping tonight in a small grove of Joshua trees.
He wanted to say a special thanks to the people who have taken time out of their day to send him something by mail. The Aquino's from New York, Helen and Brent from Yellowstone, Monty and Granddaddy from Pendergrass, Dwight and Lou from Chester SC, Rachel from Yellowstone, and the Greenville Millers.

Tylerhorse Canyon

Last night at Tyler Horse Canyon, the wind was such a powerful force that it was impossible to pitch a tent. The skies were clear so the group decided to cowboy camp. The wind was howling a steady blast of frigid air across their sleeping bags all night. Zac said that some time in the night, he thought he heard something hitting his sleeping bag. He didn't feel any moisture seeping into his bag so he thought it was just a sprinkle. He could live with that. That morning when he woke up his sleeping bag had about a half inch of snow covering it. The group set out after breakfast towards Tehachapi. The ridge trail was narrow and the wind was so bad it was difficult to walk without being blown into cactus or some small bush. His glasses were blown off his face a few times he said. When they were off the ridge they met some rangers who were checking on hikers along the trail due to bad conditions. They told them that the winds gust last night and today were up to 50 miles an hour and the wind chill last night was close to 15 degrees. They had gone 17 miles today. While hitching into town he lost his best pair of gloves. He said they are either on the trail somewhere or in the bed of the truck that picked him up. He was having a bad day. The town of Tehachapi is spread out in such a way that the post office is 2 miles from the hotel where he was staying. They did find an all you can eat Chinese buffet which might change their policy after that group went through. He was planning to take in a movie "Robin Hood" tonight. He got his sister, Erin, to look up show times from her computer here in Ga. He will check his mail in the morning and then keep heading north. Be sure to check for new videos I have slipped in this blog. I am trying to put them close to they entry because I get the videos about three weeks after they actually happened. You may have to go back to his first day on the trail. his next mail pick up is: Kennedy Meadows 96740 Beach Meadows Road Inyokern Calf. 93527

Don't tell Monty! shhhhhhh!

500 miles

Thursday night Zac and company hiked the 0.6 miles off the trail to the Uppershake Campground hoping for a nice place to pitch a tent and relax a bit. When they arrived, they found the camp grounds in bad shape. The brush was overgrown, every site was on a hill, the water was undrinkable and the bathrooms were so bad Zac said he would have rather found a bush or tree. For Zac to say a bathroom was that nasty, there must have been a family of raccoons or skunks living in there or something. The campground was closed. The trio, Golden Child, Mango, and Zac decided to stay anyway. There were no good places to set up a tent so they all cowboy camped.
There was a group of PCT volunteer trail workers camped on the other side of the campgrounds. They went over to enquire about trial conditions and were invited to dinner and all the water they could carry. They had fajitas and re fried beans. They "Yogied" their dinner. This a term used when they are invited eat with someone. Sort of like when Yogi Bear would eat out of someone's picnic basket but without the part of being chased by the local ranger. (I hope)
He had crossed the 500 mile marker.
On Friday they hiked from a 6000 ft. to a 3000 ft. elevation. They reached the town of Lancater. Their goal was to camp at a place called Hikertown. A place built for through hikers with small plywood cabins, showers, Internet,and a hot meal. According to Zac, it was set up like an old western town. Almost like some kind of movie set.
When I spoke with him this morning he said he had not slept well. It was cold and they had to keep the window open so the cat could get in. He said he received some good trail information from Tarzan and Zelda this morning. He was going to have a pancake breakfast and get back on the trail. The weather there this morning was cold and looked like it might rain.
Today they will follow the Los Angeles Aqueduct, jeep trails and dirt roads. They are planning to hike the 16 miles to the Cottonwood Creek bridge and fill up on water then hike the additional 6 miles to Tylerhorse Canyon where they plan to camp.

UPDATE: The toe nail fell off two days ago. Not sure but I think he will make some kind of necklace out of it to ward off evil spirits. He has a new hair style or "lack of" hair style. He has cut his hair a short as he could. It was getting too long and the desert gets hot. He was very happy to get an email from Charles Wood, the world famous Banjo picker and turkey hunter. Thanks again for everyone's support and prayers, both near and far.