Day 36 - miles 676.1 - 702.2
Today was a big day...we arrived at Kennedy Meadows (also we have completed 700 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail)! Kennedy Meadows is such a monumental point on the trail, it still seems surreal that we are actually here! This place is the gateway to the Sierra Nevada mountain range for PCT hikers.
Our hike to KM was hot, long (marathon day!), and uneventful. We arrived to the road crossing late (7ish), and walked nearly a mile up to the Kennedy Meadows General Store. We were surprised at what we found. First of all, we imagined there would be a meadow, well there sort of was, in a desert sage scrub kind of sense. No grass or wildflowers as I had envisioned. Kennedy Meadows is a very small community, and the General Store is the hub of it all. We were a little concerned, as we knew the store closed at 5:00. Also, historically, hikers have been allowed to camp at the store, but we heard this was no longer permitted. So where would everyone be camping? And why were we walking a mile up the road to a likely closed store? The streets were silent as we neared the store, and we grew more worried. As the store came into sight and we neared, we noticed a couple of people up on the porch. We made our way up onto the porch and were greeted by applause and cold beers and some faces we hadn't seen in some time, including the guys of the cabin crew. It was so great to be reunited! We setup our tent in the store's backyard (rumor was wrong), and caught up on trail life and gossip around a campfire. Looking forward to a day off here!
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