October 14

It was brutally cold again last night. Perhaps it is the last night on this hike that it will get that cold. We are officially out of the High Sierras and currently camped at the Kennedy Meadows campground. It's a 2 mile road walk to the store in the morning which is good because the water out of the river is nasty and we are both out of food. Louis said he may not eat breakfast before we go and all I have is a Snickers bar and half a spoonful of peanut butter left for my morning breakfast. Our hike out of the high country was amazing, however. It was shocking to go from a mountainous region with the trees and foliage to high desert with almost nothing but sagebrush within a distance of a few miles. We are heading for the desert and it is obvious with how quickly the scenery is changing. Just last night we had our last ridge top view of a wide panorama, and now we have sand and sagebrush ahead as far as one can see. I am so glad to be camped this low, at 6,146 ft. it is warm and cozy compared to the high elevation and freezing temperatures. I might not even have frost inside my tent and have to dry it out at lunch as has been the case for a couple weeks now.