Kennedy Meadows Vortex

So tonight will be our fourth night in Kennedy Meadows. It's a vortex of playing cards, sipping gatorades, and soaking my feet. Miles accomplished since Tuesday: 0.

In large part, this was by design. We're meeting Matthew and his girlfriend Alicia on Tuesday about 45 miles north of here, and so had to kill some time between now and then. And this is a great excuse to rest our feet, and my blister in particular.

But it's starting to feel a little sad to see crews of hikers arrive, get their resupply boxes, repack, and head out. We've watched three different waves at this point.

We finally decided to get ourselves in gear today, since the plan is to depart tomorrow. We picked up my bear canister, the Cadillac of bear canisters: the bearikade. Bear canisters are required for the next few hundred miles, and can be heavy and expensive. I'm so lucky that a previous thru hiker, Barrel Roll, who I met through Ginny and Emily, mailed me his. The way this community pays it forward is pretty amazing. Plus, his canister is amazing.

We had a big date night last night. The only restaurant in town, Grumpy's, will provide hikers with round trip transport if enough people want dinner. So we went with another couple to try out the local fare. Delicious baked potato for me. And even better - the girl in the other couple went to Princeton too! She was in Butler, so we had a moment of down-campus solidarity.

Some pictures of the scene. First, a bunch of dirty hikers on the general store porch.