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!
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!
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”.
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.
We started hiking with another hiker called Talus at 4pm and stopped after 5.31 miles by the river. Beautiful spot! We were exhausted!
Distance: 5.31 miles
Steps: 16.903
Thanks for reading!! 🫶🫶🫶
Days 45 – to 50 (Miles 566.4 to 652.5)
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Day 45: 566.4 to 587.5 (21.1 miles)
Got up at 3.15 am, left at 3.45 without Iceman although we had agreed to this the night before. He said half asleep: “The only thing I’ll get up at 3am for is Mt Whitney.” Bahaha ok, I left without my hiking buddy, but with a few other hikers and got the 4.30am bus out of town. Since it was going to a very hot day and a 17 mile water carry, which makes the packs super heavy, we wanted to get the steep ascend out of the way before it got too hot. And I was surprised when 11 hikers showed up at the bus stop at 4.30am in the morning while the rest of Tehachapi was still dark, without cars and sleeping.
Days 38 – 44 (Miles 452.9 – 566)
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Day 38: 452.9 – 471.8
Amy made a lovely breakfast and then she hiked with us a few miles leaving Agua Dulce.
Days 32 – 37: Wrightwood to (374.0 – 452.9)
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Day 25 to 31: Big Bear Lake to Wrightwood (Miles 266.1 to 356.2 / 573.24 km)
Day 25: Big Bear Lake to Little bear Spring Trail Camp (266.1 to 285.6)
Alarm at 6.45am, shower, breakfast got pick-up at our hotel by Trail Angel named Sandy Troutman. We have a twenty mile day
We hiked with Webcutter and Travis and it was one of the funnest days! I’m very happy we’ll be hiking with Webcutter tomorrow again.
Days 20 – 24: Miles 209.6 to 266.1
Tl;dr: Saw a bear, the first rattlesnake and descended over 2500m in one day … read on for more details.
Disclaimer: this is a longer post, covering multiple days, as I am changing the posting cycle to once a week roughly. Exciting news: we added a new feature: Now you can subscribe to get an email notification with each new post, more infos below. 🙂
Day 19: The long descent down San Jacinto (Miles 190.4 – 209.6)
Today, I woke up at 5.40AM and it was STILL raining and cold. My hands froze trying to put together my tent. Coldest day on the PCT yet with 4 degrees Celsius and coldest night – first night I could leave my sleeping bag closed.
Hiked 31km mostly down San Jacinto. The last part from the bottom of the mountain from the water pipe along the desert towards I-10 was horrible in the wind. I had to pee really bad but couldn’t because it would have sprinkled everywhere. 🫣 we finally made it to Kristin’s, an Airbnb right on trail. Lovely place. She greeted us with Gatorade with Ice 🫶 great to shower and do laundry. Left foot blister under my foot, right foot took the tape off that Morgan put on and have to put it on again tomorrow, potentially on both feet and do exercises. Several times a day to prevent injury.
Passed the 200 mile marker today but noticed I am not that excited about it: I am waiting for the 265.54 mile (427.34km) marker to reach the 10% 🙂 in a few days I’ll get there. Still the longest I have ever walked. So an achievement for sure!
Stats:
Miles walked 19.8
Descent: 2253m ‼️⚠️⛔️
Ascent: 312m
Steps: 43.828
Max elevation: 2368m
P.S.: I read that descents don’t hurt your knees, they only reveal your weaknesses – this was my queue to start stretching even more – every two hours on trail now.
Day 18: 177.3 to 190.4 Fuller Ridge
This was the hardest day for me yet. I didn’t sleep at all the night before, so when the alarm rang at 5.30am, I had to stay in bed and slept till 8. Kate left and I stayed behind to make freshly brewed coffee and breakfast.
Day 17: Hardest and most beautiful day yet. (162.6 – 177.3)
Best day ever – we started at the water source cedar spring at 6.30am – and then had alpine ridges, rocks forests, pines, lizards, ascends and declines, hopping over ridges and fallen trees all day long. It was like the obstacle run I always wanted to do but never did.
Day 16: Miles 151.8 to 162.6 PVC to Cedar Springs
Started at 8AM with breakfast at mama eggs which was amazing. Then went to the gear shop again, tried on back packs. Mine is way too heavy with 8 days of food. I Like the Deuter air contact so 45 + 10. 240$ (german brand of course haha) but didn’t get it. Good to know as a back up though. Mine is a frameless pack and this one has steel framing, so it is heavier but offers more support and is comfortable for heavier loads (18-20kg).