Day 53:⛺@ mile 712.6 - ⛺ @ mile 734.4

Day: 30.05.2018 Miles hiked today: 21.8 miles Total Mileage: Mile 734.4

High Evaluation total: 1'423 meters Low Evaluation total: 708 meters

The coyotes were hauling again this morning (as last night) and I woke up with their sound. Last night we didn't catch up with Joanne and her siblings but should do so today. I was ready by 6.15 am and left. The water source is in about 4 miles and this is actually the place where I wanted to go yesterday and spend the afternoon as there is a little river. We did it this morning and I was tempted to stay there and enjoy the day. I knew that Poptart and his crew should arrive here today. But life is no cake so I moved on. In the next 6 miles we have to climb more than 800 meters and I'm really not looking forward to this at all! Hauser stayes with me and while we chat on also the uphill is much easier to manage. (Its still hard though :) ). On our way up we finally run across joanne and her siblings. They made it to the river last night and hence had to hike 4 miles less than we had to this morning. They will break for a little longer before moving on again. But because her siblings just started to hike yesterday they don't plan on hiking more than 15 miles. I remeber when we started the trail, 15 miles was a biiig day then and we were k.o. in the evenings! However, now I would like to move on more than 15 miles a day. Hence, I moved on together with Hauser. Jason is ahead of us somewhere. We agreed to meet us all in Lone Pine where me, Hauser and Jason should arrive tomorrow (if we are lucky enough to find a hitch) and Joanne and her siblings during the next day. It's nice out here in the forest, even if it is a long uphill. There is water every 1-2 miles and it feels strange to not fill up all bottles completely with water as the next source is sooo long away! But hey of course I looove it. I only fill up my 0.7 liter water bottle and that's more than enough to bring me to the next water source. The last mile of the uphill is the nicest one. We can see some snowcovered mountains in the distance and hike along a forest with beautiful old and sometimes burned trees. I took picture over picture and lost the guys. But I told them shortly before that I am really hungry and will eat lunch on the top of the mountain. When I finally reach the top no one is there. I am so hungry I don't care and prepare my food. A bagel with la vache qui rie cheese (thanks Heike!) and summer sausage. Not too shabby. It's a bummer to get food out of your backpack now because it's all stored in the bear canister. To get the bear canister out of my backpack I nearly have to unpack it completely! It's annoying and it's only my second day! I anyway wonder how I shall fit all my food in there once we hike on for a couple of days! But I guess I shall find out.... soon later I move on as it's getting cold. Now at least it's all downhill for 4 miles. I meet the guys on my downhill hike sitting on an old fallen tree in the sun and join them. They hike is beautiful even so there are some scary dark clouds appearing in the sky. We walk on and it's really scenic. Cause I'm taking loads of pictures and loose the guys again. But I just can't do differently. It's all beautiful out here and I wished I could take better pictures to show how beautiful it really looks. The trees are amazing. Some of them are all twisted around, others have 3 trees or more out of one branch and so one. I simply love it here. Finally, I feel like back in the desert as we reach the last water source for 11 or 12 miles. And there is an uphill climb ahead of us again. That means we dry camp and have to bring enough water for the hike today, cooking dinner, and the hike tomorrow to the next water source. It sucks carrying again that many liters of water as next to the bear canister this adds on a lot of weight to your backpack. But there is no way around it so swallow it and hike! It's steep but the scenery is still amazing and it's about 3.5 miles to go to our camp spot. On the way up I run into Jason. Just in the right time. A jet is flying by, at very low altitude, looks like it's crashing into a tree in front of us, making a hell lot of noise. My heart nearly stopped beating as I was so surprised and it was so loud! I have heard already in Lake Isabella that some jets from the army use this area for training purposes as the landscape must be similar to the one in Afghanistan. We have heard the noise of the jets since many days but never spotted one. They are so fast that you can only hear the noise once they past. Today we spotted them twice as they were flying quite low. It's really cool to see them but I do wonder what effect that has to the wilderness here as they are really damn loud and especially if they fly that low. The last mile (this is kind of normal) is soo hard and I have to use s lot of mental will power to not throw my poles away and pitch the tent right here ;). We have hiked nearly 22 miles today, which is a big day already but did gain a lot in evaluation too. I sit in my tent which I pitched at 3'188 meters. Its windy and quite cold (my watch tells me it's 9 degrees but it feels much colder) plus there still are some small pieces of snow out here. Jason, who stayed where we have seen the jet has not turned up yet. He told me that he stays a little longer there and hopes to see another jet. It's 20:20pm now so I guess he will sleep somewhere else tonight unless he arrives in the dark. Tomorrow our goal is to reach Lone Pine. Let's see!