Days 48-49

Day 48, 7 miles, endpoint Charlotte Lake (off the PCT)

Today was incredibly relaxing and slow paced. We slept in, enjoyed our camping spot with views of the mountains, and didn't pack up and leave until 10:45, our latest start yet this trip. We could easily make the miles to get off the PCT and into town today, but we have enough food to last until tomorrow so the plan was to take it easy today, make a side trip, and get into town tomorrow.

We had five miles to reach the turnoff to our chosen side trip, Charlotte Lake. The five miles were gorgeous; we dropped further into a dense valley of trees, then started climbing up again to higher elevation. Halfway up a steep cliff side we had an amazing view of several peaks. We stopped for awhile so Josh could set up his tripod and take panorama shots. Languidly we started hiking again, and eventually turned off the PCT and took the two miles to the lake, which sits at an elevation of 10,300 feet.

It was only about 4pm when we set up camp; usually we hike until dusk, so it felt as if we had an immense amount of time to do nothing but sit back and enjoy the lake views from our campsite.

Tomorrow we will go up and over Kearsarge Pass at 11,845 feet, then drop down to the strangely named Onion Valley to attempt a hitch into the small town of Independence, CA. I'm looking forward to the usuals of laundry and showers. There is also a rumored burrito cart there--I have been craving Mexican for awhile, so fingers crossed. It will be nice to have a solid Internet connection as well, something we haven't had for nearly two and a half weeks.

Sorry ladies... he's taken.

Taking multi-layer panoramas... hoping to get a very large print for our wall.

Mountains over Verdette Valley

Verdette Valley

Home off the PCT at Charlotte Lake.

Sunset from camp.

Carla @ sunset.

Day 49, 8 miles, endpoint Bishop, CA

We left beautiful Charlotte Lake and started on the uphill towards Kearsarge Pass 3.5 miles away. Nearly a month ago we met a hiker from Toronto named Ed on the trail in the desert section. He had hiked the entire PCT several years ago and was back to do part of the trail for a vacation. He mentioned to us at the time that Kearsarge Pass was "world class hiking," and that phrase stuck with me ever since. Well, Ed, you were right. The trail to Kearsarge Pass, while off the PCT, was amazing. We took a high, cliff side route overlooking Bullfrog and Kearsarge Lakes, with mammoth snowy mountains as the constant background.

We topped out at nearly 12,000 feet over the pass, enjoyed the views, chatted with a climber from San Diego named Frank, then started on the 4.5 mile downhill to Onion Valley. We again crossed paths with Smiles and Ukeless who were going up the hill back to the mountains after having spent a couple days in town. They will be quite a few days ahead of us, and with our slowed-down pace, that may have been the last time we will see them for the whole trip.

We got to the Onion Valley trailhead parking lot and called Paul, a local guy recommended by Smiles and Ukeless who shuttles hikers up and down the Sierras. He told us over the phone his going rate to take someone from Onion Valley to Independence, 13 miles down the hill, was $70. Josh negotiated and got him down to $15, which we split with a third hiker. Nice work, Josh!

Paul told us tales about his traveling Gospel singer father as he took us down the winding road towards Independence. The lower we got the hotter it was; when we arrived in Independence, on the dusty, eastern side of the Sierras, it was baking. We grabbed lunch and then went to pick up three packages at the Chevron station, which accepts hiker packages. This is where everything went wrong.

Out of the three boxes we were expecting, only one was there: the food box I shipped from Mojave. Our bounce bucket from Kennedy Meadows and a box from home were missing. Josh called KM, who politely informed us that the short distance between there to Independence could take anywhere from 7 to 14 days. It would have been nice to know that when we shipped the bucket out. I still can't believe we beat the bucket to Independence while traveling on foot.

We figured we would check into the motel and pick up our fourth package, an Amazon shipment, which was being sent there. At the motel, the office was closed with a sign saying they would be back at 2pm. It was 1:50, so we sat out on the front deck sweating it out. By 3:00 no one had returned and it was as if the motel had been abandoned.

Independence felt desolate, empty, and depressing. It is definitely the smallest town we have been to yet. With no packages and no motel to check into, we decided we had to get out of there. We made the plan to go to the larger town of Bishop to the north. We stuck our thumbs out and began hoping for a ride.

After a bit of time a car pulled over and Nicolas and Emilie agreed to take us to Bishop, where they were also headed. They were a newlywed couple from France on an American road trip for their honeymoon. They spoke broken English and were just about the friendliest people we ever met. They were touring California after spending time in New Mexico. Why New Mexico? They were huge fans of the TV show "Breaking Bad," which was filmed there. They went around to all of the spots: Walter White's house, Los Pollos Hermanos, and Hank's house, among other places.

After arriving in town, we took a group photo and said goodbye to our newly made French friends. Our first stop was the camera shop, where Josh tried to get some camera equipment he needed. The store didn't have it, but a guy there named Steve immediately said he would take us up to Radioshack to look there. We graciously accepted his offer and hopped into his vintage pickup truck for the ride across town. After Radioshack, Steve said he would take us around to a few of the local motels he recommended. As he drove, he told us stories about Bishop and pointed out landmarks. We settled on the Elms Motel, which was a great deal and a place we wouldn't have known about without his help.

Town time has been a little bit weird since we haven't had our usual supplies of the laptop, extra toiletries, camera/phone chargers, and the other assortment of good stuff in the missing bounce bucket. It is also Saturday, so we will be sticking around until at least Monday waiting on the mail. Fingers crossed everything will be here then so we can get back on the trail then.

Trail views

Kearsarge Pass

Top of the pass!

John Muir Wilderness!!!

This guy had a photography business in town for over 30 years.  I went in to his store and he didn't have what I was looking for so he drove us around town looking for it and even took us to a hotel!  Reminded me of my dad's old truck from the farm he grew up on.

Elms.