621.37 miles

i'm in a place called kennedy meadows. it's not as meadow-like as i expected, kind of like a whole lot of caravans amongst the pines in the sand... there are more meadowy bits around, but it's sagebush rather than the alpine grass i was expecting. however even though walking yesterday to get here we were over 8000 feet this isn't considered alpine yet... it's a very cool ramshackle joint all the same, with a lot of bush constructions - outdoor cinema, great signs, plenty of eccentric looking fire drums and spots to camp amongst the trees... it's tom's place - a dude who's fully set up for hikers. he cooked us tacos last night and pancakes this morning, and right now i'm in the cybercafe - which is a large spaceship style caravan with 4 laptops in it...


we had to create the 1000km mark - unless they're a scientist americans have no concept of metric measures... so we had to find the 621.37 mark along the trail - my american comrades were very helpful in the process... we lay in the track afterwards to get a photo on drop dead's camera - held aloft on his stick pic...

we've now also passed the quarter mark - at 663ish, we're at 702mi now...

there are so often pine cones lining the track. some of them you could close your fist around, others as big as your head - well, not as big as my head, but a regular person's head...


these are joshua trees - keep hitting them on and off. sometimes it seems strange to be up in mountains with pine trees, joshua trees and cactuses...

we do these amazing switchback climbs, with constant views of the desert or other mountains... sometimes, like this day, it's so violently windy it's hard to stand, and sometimes it's sand underfoot, which is slower walking...

we had a miscommunication about campsites one night, and pellet walked ahead and past all these great spots under the trees. we never caught him and we ended up camping on the top of a mountain (without pellet)... half way through the night i awoke to ice covering my quilt and sleeping mat, but by early morning there was masses of moisture beading my bag... it looked fantastic however, with the mist blowing through our camp...



the joshua trees can be really striking. i camped under one one night, and then watched a rainbow across the valley between joshua tree studded hills in the morning...





this is a black widow spider - i was about to pick it up but my friends told me it was deadly. it's related to a redback, so i suspect not so much deadly as painful and not recommended for picking up...


this tree had a woodpecker tapping away rhythmically on it. i got a closer shot of him as well... sometimes when i see woodpeckers and hummingbirds i feel like i'm in a david attenborough doco...



i really enjoy hiking at sunset, especially when we're high or have good views (which is remarkably often)...