The final stop before the Sierra’s is Kennedy Meadows. From this point on the trail changes drastically. After arriving, I went to pick up the boxes I had shipped to myself and a box my family had shipped. In the four boxes was an ice axe, bear canister, new warmer sleeping bag. The final box had food. After packing everything up, my bag felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. Right before we left, a hiker from Denmark called Price joined Harry and me. The three of us headed out ready for this new and exciting section.
As we walked the trail steadily gained elevation for an entire day, we climbed from 6,000 to 10,000 feet very quickly. Even though the hiking was difficult, I was happily distracted by the beautiful scenery that was around every corner. We celebrated our first day in this section, by making a fire at camp that night (a surprisingly rare thing on the pct). The next two days I climbed up and over two peaks. The first was right around the 10,000 foot mark and the second, closer to 11,000 ft. Each peak had snow on the top but it was easy to walk over and I didn’t even need my snow gear.
After the second pass,
I took a side trail and descended to a park, where my group hitched a ride into the town of Lone Pine. The ride down was the scariest hitch of my life. Not because the people were sketchy, but because I rode in the back of a pickup truck down a mountain road with a major drop off on one side. Luckily I made it down alive and am now preparing for the next section. The next stretch will be one of the hardest. I will climb Mt Whitney and go over the highest pass on the entire trail. Additionally the snow will be a major factor and cut my daily mileage down drastically. Even with all this I am excited for the adventures to come.
-Noel Nelson (pct mile 744)
At mile 655 the trail crosses a highway. Food wise, I was good until the next town but the idea of hitching in for a burger was irresistible. So my buddy and I put out our thumbs and waited. After about thirty minutes a truck pulled over and we hopped in. Inside was a couple from San Francisco. After talking a little bit, they offered us a place to stay in town at their campsite and we accepted. Once in town, they paid for our dinner and introduced us to everyone else in their group. Their group was different from your average campers. They are white water rafters and the campsite was right on the Kern river. Our new friends invited us to go rafting with them and of course we accepted again. The next day we got our wet suits and life jackets and about fifteen of us loaded into a van pulling a trailer with three rafts. We drove up the river and after getting situated, pushed off down some class 3 rapids. 
For these experienced rafters it was no big deal but for me it was unlike anything I had ever done. Working as a team, we navigated down the river and eventually back to the campsite. When I started the PCT I never thought I would go white water rafting but when you are open to try new things, opportunities will arise. -Noel Nelson (pct mile 658)
