PCT Map Miles 705.8
Miles Hiked 645.6
Elevation 6,148 feet
Miles Hiked Today 2.4
I can’t say I wasn’t warned. Just before the Kennedy Meadows General Store manager closed for the night, he told me there is a guard dog that roams the grounds at night. The dog “tends” to bark. Yeah, “tends” to.
Of course, I had decided to setup camp on the store grounds. My bad. That dog started barking at sunset and never stopped for a second until daylight. What a nightmare. I even put my expensive ear plugs in – nothing but barking. It almost seemed like it got louder with the ear plugs. I finally gave up at 7 AM and resigned myself to walking around like a sleepless zombie all day.
As one might imagine, I planned nothing big for the day. I hung around the store, took a shower and washed clothes. Their washing machine was a disaster. My clothes came out dirtier than when I put them in the machine. There was sand in the washer, and it was all through my clothes when they finished the wash cycle. I ran them through the washing machine a second time with only marginal improvement.
I had planned on staying another night at the Kennedy Meadows General Store. However, given the circumstances with the dog, I had to move on. In the early afternoon, I decided to hike to a campground that was only 3 miles away. At 4:00 PM, I left the general store and started hiking to the Kennedy Meadows Campground. I reached it about 5:15 and set up my tent. Hopefully this will be a quiet evening.
