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Mileage Slogging, Day 5

We awoke, kinda early and tried to get moving as we had alot of mileage to cover, just under sixteen to be exact. At least our packs were getting lighter, and all of our scented gear finally fit into the bear canisters, which was nice. After a quick and tiring game of catch with the Aerobie, we set off. We had to drop down into the Kern canyon, losing 2600 feet of elevation which is a great way to rupture your fragile feet. After that, we had to travel up the Kern canyon 9 miles and find somewhere to camp.

By this point, Jared looked more muslim than man with his overgrowth of a beard.

So, we hiked and began to run into more people than we’d been seeing the last bunch of days and got more oxygen than we’d been used to as well with the drop in elevation, unfortunately this also meant more heat. I’m a colder weather person, and adding 40 something pounds to haul makes me appreciate the chilly high elevation air even more. The Kern canyon is neat in its own way. You’ll see not many better examples of a glacially carved valley than that, lots of creeks and streams and even hot springs feeding the mighty Kern River.

At the bottom of the canyon, I knew my feet had blistered. I think the others had the same problem, that’s a steep drop. I can’t imagine climbing up that with a pack, you got to be nuts to try that kind of tomfoolery. Also at the bottom was this weird little gate with a sign that said, “Close this gate to protect wilderness”. I’m still not quite sure what to make of that gate.

Now that we were in the bottom of this canyon, water crossings came up every mile or so it seemed like. From immense to fast moving to the more mundane ones.

For this next picture, keep in mind that we are hundreds of miles from any urban centers. Your balloons travel a looong way when they go, so try to keep them in check.

Eventually, the day ended, many blisters and miles later. We setup a little fire ring, found some bear poop and a bear cave right next to our site, but decided to chance it. I slept very well that night, knowing that we were getting back into the highlands now.

Thus ended day 5, about 16 miles down and a very, very tired crew.