Days 51 – 55: Ridgecrest to Bishop (Miles 652.5 to 789.7) – The end of the desert

Day 51: 2nd spontaneous zero in Ridgecrest

We had planned to leave today but Iceman had food poisoning (from the Chinese buffet the day before?) so we stayed another night. While he rested, I met up with our friends, Roadrash, Kate, Fruitloop, Jess, Ryan and some more hikers. It is Roadrash’s birthday and it was great to see everyone!

Roadrash got Mickey Mouse pancakes for his birthday

Day 52: Leaving Ridgecrest after double zero (Miles 652.5 to 670.2) (19.7 miles)

We had arranged a ride with trail angel Amy. She picked us up at the hotel at 8.30am.

We started hiking around 9.15am and went up a gradual climb. It was very hot. The mountains started becoming rockier. In no time, we were up on quite some elevation again. There was no place to sit for lunch so we had lunch on trail with a good view in the shade. I had a baked potato and steak from Charlie’s Pub and Grill in Ridgecrest from the previous night, which was really good.

We went down after a few miles. The mountains were grey, went straight up into the sky, like a screensaver that is how beautiful they were.

Stats:

Steps: 42.878

Distance: 19.7 Miles

Day 53: Camp at abandoned Fox Mill Spring (Miles 670.2 to 684.3)

I woke up at 5.40am and rolled over to sleep till 7am. We made coffee and started hiking at 8.00am. We climbed a big hill and it was really hot, I felt weak and had to sit down at 11am. I couldn’t catch up to Iceman, he was ahead of me, so I stopped beforehand and ate a tortilla. The scenerie was really glorious, grey rocks and mountains, white sand, we were at 6000 feet at some point. Then around the next corner, red rocks and a green lush valley. That’s is a clear sign that the next water source will be right there in the middle of the lush green area. I made it to Iceman and we had a longer lunch break. I ate SPAM for the first time and it was delicious!

Some of my favorites – so pink! How can they be so beautiful in the desert without water?

My knee didn’t hurt all day today, I wore no brace and I did a lot of exercises for hip stretching, as Morgan from Braze Physio recommended, every chance I got.

Then we hiked to the next water and I was exhausted, Ice had cold water ready for me.

We dumped a whole bladder on top of our heads and hiked up the next steep mountain. When we made it to water, at the abandoned mill, we decided to stay even though we only hiked 15 miles. I was tired and so was Iceman.

Steps: 33.583

Distance: 15.3 miles

Ascent: 3470

Day 54: The End of the desert: Nero into Kennedy Meadow South – Mile 703.4

In thru-hiking, “Nero” refers to a “nearly zero” day, meaning a day where a hiker covers very few miles, often to rest or resupply. It’s a day with minimal hiking, usually done before or after town visits, or to allow for rest and recovery.

June 9th, on day 54 of my hike, I made it to Kennedy Meadow South, which is considered the official end of the desert. When you get to Kennedy Meadow General Store, all hikers who are already on the porch, will clap for you. It’s a huge milestone! 703.4 / 1132km miles of desert….. it’s enough! Eventhough it was really beautiful.

The Sierra Nevada is next. Mountains. Passes. John Muir Trail! One of the most iconic trails in the world, a trail I’ve been wanting to hike since I first visited Yosemite National Park 10 years ago.

I am so excited to leave the desert and enter the Sierra Nevada. Towns are getting fewer and food carries longer. We have to carry an ice axe and a bear canister now because we’ll have to pass snow patches climbing up Mt Whitney, Forester Pass and potentially other passes. But water carries will be shorter. Lots of rivers.

We pushed more than 20 miles before 3PM to get to KMS. We did stop to jump into a river with our clothes on to cool off and clean our clothes, as it was really hot!

Stats:

Distance: 20.02 miles

Steps: 43.234

Ascent: 942 meters

Day 55: Surprises package 🫶 and nero out of KMS (Miles 703.4 to 707.8) (5.31 miles)

We celebrated reaching the end of the desert last night with IPAs. First at a bar called Grumpy Bears and then someone’s RV haha. Tired today!

My friends Markus and Steffi from Berlin told me to go to Grumpy Bears and ask for a package: they sent me a surprise package with German goodies!!!! Oh my God- I am so thrilled to have german food for the first time after two month.

The highlight was that they printed stickers of my blog logo and added “PCT 2025”.

My own stickers!!! 😳🥳❤️

We also visited the iconic “Triple Crown Outfitters” (TCO) store to resupply some more, get our picture taken and get our free PCT 2025 bandana from TCO.