HIKING THE PACIFIC CREST TRAIL...AGAIN

We seemed to have developed a love for the Pacific Crest Trail. We love walking the section near us, as we've mentioned during a Macintosh Monday. I'd say the love for it was started by the sheer beauty of the trail itself, but it was definitely fuelled when I read Cheryl Strayed's autobiography of her time walking the trail. (Found here) Whatever the case, with Andrew's day off on Monday we decided we would spend the day in the great outdoors hiking and we naturally decided that we should hike part of the PCT. 

We drove for a couple of hours north until we found a place called Kennedy Meadows Campground, which was in the Sequoia National Forest. It really was in the middle of nowhere. We passed a few mini towns and then what can only be described as a rural outpost of a few little houses. It was super peaceful though. We started our trek at the campground and after walking less than a mile we came across the Kern river which we followed for quite a while. 

Macintosh absolutely loved the hike. Just the space to roam about and all the new smells of the wild animals. We did spot a four legged grey-ish animal that he caught the scent of and followed for quite a while. He also enjoyed being able to dash into the river for either a cool down or a quick drink. It was about 25 degrees at the hottest part of the day and so he was soon panting as we were walking along. He wasn't quite used to hiking in the heat, although judging by our weather patterns out here he'll have to get adjusted pronto!

There were lots of amazing views and scenery for most of the hike until we came to the last mile before we turned back. Here we discovered the devastation that comes with Californian forest fires. Andrew had read that a few years ago there had been some fires in the area and although that is sadly commonplace in our state it was the first time we had come face to face with the aftermath. I was quite emotional about the whole thing. It seemed so sad to see huge swaths of forest just reduced to a blackened mess. We decided soon after wandering through that to turn around. We'd already done 5 miles to that point and had to do the 5 miles back, but to be honest regardless of how tired my legs were I don't think I could have walked through much more of that. It was too heartbreaking.

The whole hike was amazing fun though and we absolutely loved it. We kept talking about all the other sections of the PCT we could do and the possibility of whether we'd ever survive doing a long weekend hiking/camping trip on part of it. Although I love the idea of it, and feel inspired by Miss Cheryl, I'm not sure I'm quite brave enough to manage, let alone strong to haul all I'd need. But you never know, Andrew has persuaded me to do some pretty crazy things. I guess just watch this space!
H