Day 56

15.6 miles hiked

Today is the day I will arrive at Kennedy Meadows. 
Wow. That means I’m at 702 miles tonight. 
What craziness to comprehend. That’s 1,123 km. (Yes yes I know I still have 250 miles of the desert to finish, BUT I am still so excited and proud of myself that I will be at Kennedy Meadows TODAY.) 
Watching all of the YouTube videos of people reaching this very important milestone leading up to my hike has made me so freaking happy to make it here. 

Anyways, I woke up around 6:30am today and was hiking by 7:30am. It was 6.6 miles to the first water source at the bottom of the mountain. My last descent of the desert for the time being. 
However, I was stupid and didn’t rest at all in those 6.6 miles until I reached the water and my feet definitely made me pay for that rash decision.
It was cloudy all day so my original plan of swimming in the Kern river around mile 10 today was  kyboshed due to the zero sun and cold winds. I was only able to dip my feet in to bring down the inflammation of the last 10 miles. It was freezing. 
I saw Vibes at the river though and we hiked together the rest of the day! 
We spotted Mañana and Gameshow just after the river and also had them with us. I reached mile 700 first and waited for everyone to join me and we took our obligatory photos. Then we hiked together to the road and followed the road up to Kennedy Meadows. When we arrived there…. Everyone cheered. 
Clapped. 
Whistled.
It was absolutely amazing.
I cried.
Hugged people I had just met.
Cried some more (actually like 15 minutes later I still was tearing up haha) 

That’s how absolutely marvelous it was reaching this place. So many emotions. All happy. 
I am hiking the PCT. I still can’t believe it. 
I’m doing this. I will keep doing this. I will finish this trail. 

After all the cheering I met a couple named Pocket Lizard and Miss Pancakes. 
They helped me set up my tent near them and I learned some tricks to work on a better pitch for the future. 
Then I went to go find Jess who has been waiting for me to hike in since she was injured and skipped ahead to KM. 
I started walking up the road and thankfully got a hitch up to Grumpy’s (a food and bar with hiker friendly showers/laundry) because I really didn’t want to walk another 3 miles of a road walk. Road walks suck and hurt my feet.
I found her at Grumpy’s and I ordered their triple bypass burger, a malt, and a large pizza to bring back to the hikers at Kennedy. 

I also picked up my box from home there. 
My box I sent back in April to KM is apparently “missing” so hopefully they find it tomorrow as my other fleece is in it that I need to send that one back home. 

Not sure what happened between Grumpy’s and sleeping but I know I chatted more with people like Salt Bae, Flame, etc and then went to bed around 9 :)