23. july 2018   |   Testsite - Gomez Meadow   |   16,4ml, 3.341 ft, 2.297 ft down  

Can’t find “that good sleep” and end up lying awake long into the small hours of the night, at first light i go to check the food bag that we hung yesterday, it’s still there! We had a bit too much food to fit into the bear canisters and had to hang the extra.

The tent is super damp from yesterday’s rain/hail thunderstorm, i use a fiber cloth to wipe the worst off it off before packing up, Breakfast is hurriedly eaten and we are off just at the sun starts to peer through the treetops,.

Fog hanging low over the meadow

Trying to dry some of the wet clothes, look at the small river canals from the rain yesterday

The trail opens into a big meadow with Deer Mountain to the right, we are following the path around the right side of the meadow, toward South Fork Kern, but first we have to go over a small pass to get there.

At the top there is a few very nice campsites! It would have been a sweet place to camp, we take turns to go into the bush to do business… business with a great view!

Heading down to the Kern River

Nice beach - drying out all the wet gear and clothes 

At the river, we are greeted with a nice sandy beech and a bridge where swallows are having their nest’s under, the beach is a super nice place to dry all the damp gear from yesterdays rain, and we end  up taking a long break there, soaking in the sun.

The next few miles is over exposed dessert like terrain and by now it’s really hot, we struggle a bit in the heat but make it to Cow Creek, but it’s completely dry! And we are down to the last drops, not good! There should be water in the creek further up, otherwise we are in big trouble.

Dry and dusty

The next few miles is over exposed dessert like terrain and by now it’s really hot, we struggle a bit in the heat but make it to Cow Creek, but it’s completely dry! And we are down to the last drops, not good! There should be water in the creek further up, otherwise we are in big trouble.

We follow the creek up toward Olancha pass and after a few miles the creek start’s to get at bit of moisture, but no flowing water yet, just after Monarch trail junction there is water! So nice! We fill op on water, the filter is super slow, it takes forever to “make” 4L water. At the pass we meet a hiking couple, out for a few days, we chat a bit and i ask about the water situation for the next stretch, they say “next to nothing at Gomez meadow and the creeks are dry” damn that’s not good.

Our destination is Gomez meadow, and it’s mostly downhill all the way, but we are tired and i have carried an extra 2L of water just to make sure we have enough for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow. It’s tough going, and the creek’s are all dry!

Gomez Meadow - There should be water flowing right where Mikkel i walking

Gomez Meadow is dry! Damn! No running water at the “bridge” crossing the meadow! I try not to panic… 

There is a nice campsite on sandy ground and a lot of open space around, very nice, I pitch the tent while Mikkel boils water for dinner, we are alone in this wonderful place

We have almost hiked 20 miles today, so much for an easy start! Today hiker-midnight is at 20:00.

Plenty of space for the tent, we went over and around the mountain in the bacgground

Ready for bed in 2 sec.