day 38th, May 31st Bear Day! 20 miles

Officially as of today we are in the Sierra Nevada so it was just appropriate to see a bear! It was walking down the dirt road in no hurry at all although it must have smelled and heard us (several hikers at the spring). So I admired its rear end as I almost could not believe my eyes! So close. I guess we'd better not keep our food sacks next to us though.

Talking about food, our packs are again fully loaded for five days plus the maximum of water. Today we've had a long waterless stretch as we will have tomorrow but somehow we still managed to keep going. We figuered that in the High Sierra we won't have more weight to carry even though we will be out for more days in a row. The water situation is much better there. But 10 kg more are 10 kg.

We've met Manfred again, a German hiker from Munich, 67 years old, in pretty good condition I would say although he carries a "traditionally" heavy pack. It was so good to hear the Bavarian accent again (I like it).

Before Mojave and today we have walked past wind turbines and tonight we camp close of a row which produces a constant hum. I guess we will fall asleep easily.  ¶ 18:21