Leaving Kennedy Meadows (after a hot coffee and hearty egg sandwich, of course), I followed the trail north along the Kern River and through a large burn zone. I stopped in the shade at the crest of a hill to have lunch with a hiker from LA named John, who was out for a week-long trek and would be leaving the trail after only seven days via Kearsarge Pass and Onion Valley.
We hiked together for the rest of the day through an expansive subalpine meadow scattered with pink and yellow wildflowers, and eventually reached a popular campsite on the bank of the south fork of the Kern. A bridge crossed the river nearby, and when I walked over to filter water for dinner seemingly hundreds of swallows were flitting around from underneath. A glance under the bridge revealed this large colony of mud-built swallow nests as the birds continued to dart to and fro, catching insects (keeping the mosquito levels at the camp pleasantly low). I sat down below the bridge to watch the swallows as evening rolled in, and the serenity of that moment continues to be one of my fondest memories of the entire trek.
Russell on the Road 