into the sierra

friends,

the days and hills keep rolling on by as we walk and wander these southern california lands. we returned to the trail after the break in berkeley to find snow in the san gabriel mountains. a foot had fallen over 7000 feet and we sloshed through climbing to the summit of 9399 foot mt. baden powell. up into the clear alpine air and ancient old limber pines cragged and grown with the wind. clouds rolling through us atop the peak appearing and disappearing the mountains to the west. we walked westward through the san gabriel before dropping into the desert town of agua dulce. incredible hospitality continued as we stayed with the legendary saufley's at "hiker heaven" (www.hikerheaven.com). a couple who have been housing, cleaning, and resting pct hikers for over 10 years. their entire yard set up as a camp with canvas tents, trailers, coolers, free boxes, firepit, and a fleet of bicycles for trips to town. we stayed a night before walking through the heat to meet another set of legendary trail hosts, the anderson's, for an entirely different experience. we camped in the manzanita grove just beyond the tarped oil-wresting pit for two days of beer drinking, frisbee golfing, taco salad-filled debauchery. eventually made it out alive and the contrasts continued as we set back out into the heat and brush wilderness. that day while searching a dry stream for water i met white buffalo and marshall who were out for 5 days for a rite of passage inipi ceremony. our paths had brought us together and after speaking for a few minutes white buffalo invited us to join them for a sweat lodge. with that we were preparing for the sweat, serena, mark, and i gathering pine and cedar branches for the lodge, building a stone fire pit and cutting kindling. the wind hurtling by we carefully started a fire and began heating the stones. the sweat lasted well into the night, a beautiful experience to be a part of out on this walk.
the next day we dropped out of the oak forests atop liebre mountain and into the controversial route throught the mojave desert and antelope valley. cracking autos rusting in the fields, grass pushing through shattered computer monitors and sun-baked electronics on a stretch of trail that traverses private plots and yards and through the gnarled joshua tree forests that line the cemented l.a. aqueduct. we spent the day in howling wind and flying sands crossing this valley where the trail skirts the edges of the expansive tejon ranch. this 75 mile length of trail from the antelope valley to the tehachapi mountains and the southern sierra is mired in troubling land issues. conservation easements are slim and numerous signs warn walkers not to deviate from the trail tread under penalty of prosecution. these are some of the threatened spaces that we hope to help protect through our partnership with the pacifc crest trail association for the hike.
on we've walked through the long waterless stretches and the last of the desert country to reach the southern sierra range. steep scaping peaks, pinyon pine, old juniper, sage, hillsides of lupine returning health to burn sites, and eventually dropping into the valley of the south fork kern river. we find ourselves now in the settlement of kennedy meadows, 40-50 off the grid residents, most more grizzled than the hikers, solar panels, generators, a general store, and this silver cyber trailer where i'm typing. a great place to spend some before venturing out into the high country...with cold rivers, snow, and towering old mt. whitney looming ahead.

peace, jeramy