At last I’m getting out of Kennedy Meadows. My energy has returned and I’m able to organize my pack, including mailing some excess to Mammoth Lakes. After I’d packed my bear can full of food, I realized it fit nicely inside my pack. I was so glad not to be tying it to the top of my pack like I’ve seen so many others do.

I spent the morning at Grumpy’s for one last breakfast, French toast this time, no crazy pancakes. When the afternoon rolled around, I hopped on the shuttle to trail. As we pulled up to the trailhead, the driver congratulated us all on escaping the Kennedy Meadows Vortex, and making it to the Sierra for real.

We hiked just a couple of miles, barely an hour from the trailhead, to Kennedy Meadows campground. The environment here was different to what we walked in from. After just a few hundred meters of desert scrub, we were in forest. The campground was right at the base of the mountains surrounded by trees.

As we arrived, we saw trail magic setting up. About half a dozen trail angels were organizing a huge trail magic shout in memory of Meadow Ed, one of the earliest and most well known trail angels. He’s known for setting up at this campground every year for several days or weeks as PCT hikers came through. Through the 90s and early 2000s he was a valuable source of information regarding trail conditions in the Sierra and the best day to enter the section. He also features in the movie Wild with Reese Witherspoon.

The trail angels were cooking burgers on a charcoal grill for dinner tonight. They also planned to prepare breakfast, lunch, and continue for the next 3-4 days. They had about 10 chilly bins of cold drinks, food, as well as tables, chairs, a BBQ and great conversations about the PCT, plus advice for the upcoming trail… I could hear the irony in our driver’s words. We hadn’t escaped the Kennedy Meadows Vortex just yet.