Day 63 ~ miles 1010 - 1018.5
I was so excited about our big milestone yesterday that I forgot to even mention our most epic campsite last night! We climbed about 1,500 feet yesterday evening to a spectacular ridge. The mountain was volcanic in nature (rather than the glacial mountains that we have been accustomed to), and basically just a huge pile of gravel lacking much vegetation.
It was so windy that we couldn't setup our tent, so cowboy camping it was. Never have we slept in such a high and exposed site, literally right on top of a ridge with panoramic mountain views. We watched an incredible sunset, and did some stargazing as well. It's funny how you can feel so very small and alone, when you know that several people are within a couple of miles.
We awoke early, it's town day! We walked for about 8 miles along the ridge on which we slept. It was incredibly beautiful. We did a little travel over snow (thought we were done with that stuff). We arrived to the road, Sonora pass, early afternoon and got a ride surprisingly quickly. The road down to Kennedy Meadows Resort was super steep and windy; we could seriously smell the truck's brakes -- scary! This is not the same Kennedy Meadows that we visited a few hundred miles ago, but a resort and pack station.
We arrived to find the place packed (it was Friday). All of their bunkrooms, cabins, and campsites were full, ugh. The resort was swarming with real cowboys and herding dogs and horses...it was such a neat experience. We did our grocery shopping in the small store, showered, and laundered our clothes. We sat on the back porch of the main building for hours, people watching and chatting with hikers. I cannot say enough good things about the resort, they were so hiker friendly! We visited the saloon, and proceeded to eat a delicious, huge, and well-priced meal at the resort's restaurant. Luckily, a hiker's sister who had come to visit had reserved a group campsite. They invited us all to stay, perfect!
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