Looking for the Trail

The next couple of nights were spent at Lake Isabella.  We were unsuccessful in finding the trail, which is supposed to cross a fire road near the lake.  We scoured the whole 8 miles of the fire road, but found no evidence of the trail.  It was so windy by the lake that we could not cook.  Couldn't even sit outside and read.  Every time I would get up to do something, my chair would blow away.  Whew!  No wonder we're the only campers here.

After two nights of being blown to bits, we decide to move on and find the trail further 'up the pike'.  We drove 25 miles off of California route 395 up into the mountains to a place called Kennedy Meadows.  You go up and up and up and think you're never going to get there, and then it opens up into a meadow at 6,000 feet.  Just beautiful.  A wide, alpine grassy area with distant snow capped mountains peeking over the tops of the meadow.  There are a few houses here, probably vacation spots, and one general store, which has about three things on the shelves.  But, they did have a barbecue grill up and running on the deck, and we enjoyed a hamburger and home made lemonade with a few old cowboys and a bunch of young hikers who were all intently discussing the pros and cons of the various backpacking guides and authors.  Actually, it was more like they were disparaging all of the guides and authors.  Sometimes I guess you just gotta crab.  On a happier note, they were receiving packages from home that had been previously sent to this outpost.  I noted with some horror, however, that they were unpacking bear vaults.  Uh oh.  A bear vault is a thick plastic canister into which you place your food while backpacking in bear country.  Even if you have one that is 5 years old, you must buy a new one, as the bears have figured out how to open the older ones.  Makes you think twice ~~ well, it makes me think twice.  Obviously, John only thought once, because the next day he is back on the trail~~with no bear vault.