Thursday June 10th, Midget Trail Angel Carol and Trail Angel Jane drove to Kennedy Meadows to pick up Just Dave, Zero, and Fire Marshall. They completed mile 702!!! We found them at the Kennedy Meadows General Store talking with other hikers and eating a cheese burger. They looked tired, in need of a shower, but happy and healthy.
They came back to Duarte to resupply and plan the remainder of the trip. They are getting too far away for Trail Angels Carol and Jane to keep driving to them. Also, being in the Sierra’s, there are not easy ways to get to them. We’ve begun sending boxes of supplies out and they will need to hike into some towns for resupply on their own. This is standard trail protocol for all through hikers. Our guys have been very lucky to have had such great trail angel service for the first 700+ miles.
The plan was to get the boys back on the trail Sunday. We had to go to our friend Murray’s going away party. Dave and Murray have done Adventure Races, etc together. Dave will really miss Murray, so seeing him off was essential. Good luck Murray and family in your new adventure!
It was determined on Sunday that they still had too much to do, so the departure date was changed to Monday afternoon. I had to put in a full day of work prior to getting them back out in the wilderness. We left town about 4:00 and hit traffic (about an hour delay), arriving at Kennedy Meadows around 9:00 (yes, we stopped for dinner). That was right about the time there was an earthquake in El Centro. We were so far up the mountain that we did not feel it. Fire Marshall had just said that he really wanted to experience an earthquake. There were more than 100 aftershocks, but no damage reported yet. There were over a dozen hikers camping behind the Kennedy Meadows General Store, so our hikers decided to camp there also instead of going to the campground and were looking forward to an hour or two of socializing before bed. This General Store is only ½ mile off the trail.
I was back on the road around 9:30. I was not sleepy but was looking forward to getting home. The drive was uneventful until just prior to 11:30 when I arrived in the Alta Dena / Pasadena area. The drive was finally wearing me down. I was singing loudly to my music to stay awake, when I realized something was not right. The back passenger tire was flat. I pulled off the freeway and found myself next to a Rose Bowl sign. So I thought to myself, who lives near the Rose Bowl? Ah, yes, Midget Trail Angel! I gave Carol a call and she rushed to my rescue. We decided to put on the spare, but couldn’t get the lug nuts loosened. After a call was placed to request AAA, strong Carol loosened a couple of lugs. A Good Samaritan, Sergio, offered to help loosen the remaining ones. The tire was changed within minutes. Midget Trail Angel is a great tire changer! I drove a slow 9 miles home, arriving just after 1:00 am. What would life be without great friends and some adventure! Thanks Midget Trail Angel for coming to my rescue! Three cheers for Midget Trail Angel!
This morning our hikers had to wait for the Kennedy Meadow’s store to open up. Zero and Fire Marshall were expecting supply boxes. The store opened up at 9:00 am, so I’m sure they spent this morning pacing, itching to get back out onto the trail. They had complained yesterday how they spent too many days off the trail.
Stay tuned for more updates, pictures, etc.
Trail Angel Jane
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