1751.4 miles ....Birthday time in the high Sierras!!

Another day older and one more dollar in debt!

(OK...another year older and way more in debt!)

Darrell is one year shy of 60 now.

And with the extra year comes the following!!

Do...Do I have to??

Enjoying the sunny, snow free Trinity Alps
Castle crags to Etna

With no direct support (i.e. Richard, Rob, Rod or Nicola)
Darrell relies on benevolent Trail Angels again!

Always a pleasure!....never ending flowers....all summer long.

Surprise..Surprise....ran into Mark & Holly again!
Shared a glass a champagne with them at Mile '0'
 on the Mexican border, April 17!

Have now moved south to the Sierra Nevada's
Picking up where we left off....Kennedy Meadows
...view of typical alpine pond as DA hikes north..

Nice, clear skies up here!

Up..down....Up..down....This is the 'down'.
At least I didn't have to ford this one!

some people 'cheat' .... maybe they have a case......
....Tempting!.....

Another high pass....Getting closer to the big one!

Rugged mountains in the Mt. Whitney area!
A lot of up and down.
(Feels like mostly up!)

And a high camp!

Finally....the big one!
Have now completed both the high and the low points on the PCT!

Fellow hikers/climbers on the trail .........(not PCT'rs)

Finally back to Dusy Basin!
After the first aborted trip 33 years ago!!

Next stop?

Over Bishop pass and into town for some R & R
(......read shower and cheap wine!)

COACHES CORNER:

Having dropped Darrell off at Kennedy Meadows for his final journey north

John and Sandy spend their time trying to avoid the hot, eastern Sierra sun!

Temperatures in the valley are in the 95 -100 F range - too hot to stay down low!

This was in Bridgeport heading south!
(Technically we hadn't dropped DA off yet
But we were starting to feel the valley heat!)

This would be funny if it wasn't so true!

Camp visitors in the McCloud area
( I guess they didn't know cross-bow hunting season was about to start)

Flowers in the dessert? ...well sort of....
these were on the flanks of telescope peak ...
part of death valley!

On top of Telescope peak ....11,000+ feet
( Death valley Badwater below us at - 190 ' below sealevel)
A great hike ....and cool temperatures!

A day hike to Army pass (12,000') in the high Sierras..
Another hike to high elevation to avoid the heat!
(Mt Whitney in the distance on the right)

Time out for something 'normal'
Went to the 'Tri-County Rodeo' in Bishop....
Man...... can those cowboys, cowgirls and horses move!!

Back to our 'normal'..... A hike through the Bristlecone Pine forest
The trees here are up to 4600 years old!!
Including dead wood found on the ground in this area they
can use tree rings to go back in time up to 11,000 years!

This was a really nice hike at 10,000' -- nice and cool!

Hiking to Bishop pass to pick up DA
(as noted earlier... 33 years since our last visit!)

DA .....Coming down from Dusy Basin and Bishop pass
The end of a very long...26 mile day!

Darrell never complains about sore feet...

If he ever does we just threaten him with this remedy....!

A pair of  bionic, stone age feet!!

See you next post!....

(Sorry ...no pussycat pix this time!)