Day 55- June 13th

KOA's are pretty cool. The sleep at KOA's: not too great. There were people arriving last night at all times of the night, lights on all night on a building across from us. But the worst of all.. A bird.

This particular bird decided to start chirping at 4am.. It was the worst sounding most high pitch chirp ever! I call it the popcorn bird because it has 3 little chirps before its long chirp. This bird went off every 2 seconds. No breaks. Just chirping :/

Eventually I couldn't take it anymore. It was nearing 5am and I stumbled groggily under my tent. By this time there were 5 or 6 of the birds, but the main problem was the first one that started it all in the branches closest to our tent. I picked up one of my shoes, shine my headlamp up into the tree and chucked the shoe up there. Obviously I wasn't trying to hit the bird, just make it move. 

Success! I heard it fly to anther tree and begin chirping like nothing happened. At least it was a little further away now.. I went back to the tent and got a few minutes of shut-eye before morning.

Something I was really excited to do today was to shave! I haven't shaved since I started the trail, and my uneven facial hair mixed with my sticky aloe sunscreen mixed with constant dirt makes me look like a bum..

So fresh and so clean!

One we ate our apples that we bought in town yesterday it was time to hitch back into Lake Isabella and hit the post office and resupply our food.

As we left the KOA we saw the bus nearing, what perfect timing! We had heard there was a bus but it only runs  west three times a day! The far was only $1 each. I looked into my "wallet" to see what I had and I had exactly two singles! How perfect :)

The bus dropped us off a block away from the Post Office. But of course we got distracted with what was across the street. A Little Caesars and a Subway. It was almost 11 which meant brunch time! And by brunch I mean a whole large pizza and garlic cheese bread! No left overs!

Yup, Bees Knees and I ate this whole... thing...

As we were eating at our window seat, we saw a bunch of other hikers walking through the town, to and from the supermarket and post office. A car pulled up outside and we saw two familiar faces. It was Beast of Bourbon and Nema! 

Bourbon was the one walked a mile out of Agua Dulce, surprised me, and then insisted on taking my pack and carrying it the final mile to twin. This was when I had those 5 open blisters on the bottom of my feet. Just before the 3 day break with dad. We had also hiked with him a few times between lake Morena (mile 20), and Warner Slrings (mile 109).

It was really good to see them. We talked for a bit and discovered that they are completely over the desert, and will be getting a ride up to Kennedy Meadows. Maybe we'll see them again soon!

Being almost too stuffed to walk, we waddled over to the post office to pick up some packages. We got a package from both my mom and from Claire's mom Dona. Everything they sent was so awesome and thoughtful, thank you mommas!!

Thanks mommas!

So, there's also something that we were expecting here in Lake Isabella that I haven't told you guys about yet. A few days before Mojave, the light system in our tent suddenly stopped working. And to answer your question, yes we have lights into our tent. They are small LED's sewn into the top seam and run the length of the tent.

While we were in Mojave, I gave Big Agnes, (the brand of the tent), a call to see if anything could be done about the faulty lights. The lady was so cool and when she found out that we were on the PCT, she said she'd send us a new tent body with light fixtures! 

This is great because after using it for over 50 days on the trail the zippers on the doors had started fraying, and there were also all those little holes in the tent body from the mysterious puncture through my backpack at the airport pre-hike.

Sure enough, when we got to the post office there was a package from Big Agnes! They had sent a new tent. I took the old body and taped the box back up, slapped it with a pre-paid return postage label, and we were on our way. How wonderful! Thank you Big Agnes!

Also so fresh and so clean

Man it is so cool that Hiker Hunger and Big Agnes and REI are so flexible with hikers in the trail and actually care about their customers and want to work with them and help them succeed! We are deeply grateful for the things they've done or are doing for us!

After that we went to the Vons (basically a Safeway), to resupply for the next stretch and get some more food for today and breakfast tomorrow. Walking to the store in the sun AND wind wasn't the easiest. The wind likes to make my umbrella useless..

The best of times

 I bought so much food it's not even funny! I'm trying to have a bunch of it roll over to the Sierra since there's no guarantee that the Kennedy Meadows general store isn't completely wiped out from the big group of hikers up ahead soaking for the snow to melt!

My food bag in the right completely full. Everything else on the left that I will find a way to stuff in my pack tomorrow.

 

We lucked out on our hitch back to the KOA. Someone was leaving the Vons parking lot and headed that way so we didn't even have to walk to the highway itself!

For dinner back at the KOA we made some premium sandwiches once again with fresh ingredients from the deli at the supermarket. After that I took probably one of the longest 5 showers in my life!having hot water and soap and conditioner is AMAZING..

Tonight we talked to a fellow hiker named "Legs". He is tall and lanky like me, just with wayyyy shorter shorts. Heirs only hiking this trail for 3 months, but then backpacking in Japan for 3 months, and then ending up in Hong Kong to celebrate with friends! Not a bad summer eh?

Well, today was a full zero. Only my 5th one on the entire trail. It's Claire's 7th as I hiked solo for two days when we knees were really hurting, and then dad took us for three days right after.

We plan on waking up pretty early tomorrow and hopefully getting a hitch back to the trailhead. The bus only runs on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and this morning some hikers were outside for a few hours just trying to get a ride east. Keep your fingers crossed for us for an easy hitch! There's nothing like waiting out in the sweltering heat on an asphalt road with your thumb out for a few hours.

Only 52 miles until the Sierra, hooray!

-Thanks for reading!