Days 68-70 Miles 775.3-790

Day 68

Start: 775.3 End: 788.2 Total: 12.9

Woke up at 4:15 to the sounds of Eskimo and Fox talking. I have been setting my watch alarm for 4 but either sleeping through it or it hasn’t been going off. 

We were out on trail by 5/5:30, Fox and Eskimo were just ahead of us. We got to a big stream crossing .5 miles up and Fox and Eskimo were scouting up and down the river to find a spot that they could cross. They thought they found a snow bridge so we went to check it out with them but it wasn’t actually a way to cross. Tired of wasting time Nick and I took off our shoes and forded the freezing cold river around 6am. 

I had just made it to the other side when I saw Fox also on the other side. We gave up too soon, they found an actual snow bridge just another 2 minutes up the river. They waited for us to get our shoes back on and we all started the approach to Foresters together. It was nice being able to follow someone else for a change and I didn’t even look at my map as we crossed the snowy tundra. 

I should’ve though because Fox led us very far left so we had to change direction when we realized. We all took a handful of breaks as we went up, to get snacks, shed or put on a layer, go to the bathroom. Slowly but steadily we all made our way up. 

By now we were in the heart of the Sierras, surrounded by snowcapped peaks. We were walking into what appeared an uncrossable basin of tall mountains. There were faint footracks by now and we followed them to what would have to be the way over to the other side. 

It was a beautiful frozen tundra and besides the 4 of us there was no one around. We got to the base of Forrester just before the suns rays hit the path way up. We stopped just below to grab out our ice axes before starting the ascent. 

The first half of the trail was still covered in snow so we followed the boot tracks that zig zagged up the mountain on imaginary switchbacks. It would be a pretty fast and scary fall if you slipped but the footholds were still frozen so I felt very comfortable on them, especially having my ice axe in hand. I would keep my ice axe on the upper side while I had my trekking pole on the lower, alternating the two whenever the switchback changed directions. 

Eventually we got to a steep part of the trail that was snow free and walked on that for a bit. It was a verticle drop down and crazy to think that people had to make this trail, an incredible feat. After a bit of walking on the trail, right before the top was a section of snow in a corner with a 200 foot vertical slope going back down to the valley. The snow had stayed solid and there was a good foot rack across but it was terrrifying to approach. 

Doing it was less scary as I full heartedly paid all of my attention to my every movement for the twenty steps to get across. At the top there was a giant snow cornice on the top of the trail, making it impossible to get to the actual top on trail. The first people to ascend made their own path. It was a completely vertical snow ladder to get to the top, it was quite terrifying as I jammed my ice axe in every step of the way and sent my thanks to the hikers who came before me. 

We all made it to the top and snapped a couple photos before glissading – or sliding down on our butts. I was wearing my rain pants to it was smooth going down and I periodically dug my ice axe in to control my speed of descent. There was a lake below and another drop off but the trail said it went around another way and Fox and Eskimo went that way so we followed without giving it much thought. There was one set of footprints we were following but as we descended down this ridge it became apparent that we would be getting cliffed out. 

Fox and Eskimo took a break so I was now in the lead. I really didn’t want to backtrack but the way the trail went on the map looked pretty impassible. It was supposed to switchback down this very snowy high angle slope. It looked treacherous at this time of day and with no foot tracks before us. There were patches of rock on this steep slope and we down climbed from patch to patch before Nick led the way on an attempt to walk down the slope. He kicked steps forward into the snow and slowly angled lower and lower. I followed behind, wishing I had my ice axe but it wasn’t terribly far down and a fall would not be catastrophic so I kept going, thinking I would glissade when I got a little closer to the ground. 

I made it a few more steps before losing my footing and beginning to slide down. Panic hit me but then I realized glissading down was going to be way easier and I wasn’t going very fast. I slid 25 feet to the bottom and hit some rocks but was otherwise fine. Nick soon glissaded, on purpose, behind me and Fox and Eskimo both followed our path. 

When we were all safely down we agreed that was very sketchy and dumb but we’re happy to be safe at the bottom. We saw footsteps coming from the lake, so everyone before us had continued from the first glissade off Forrester to the second one down to the lake then back to trail. Hindsight is 20/20. 

We were still in a snowy tundra and footpaths went every which way. Hikers before just doing their best to go the general direction of the trail, but as was just reinforced in our minds, the actual trail is not always the best path in the snowy Sierras. We got some water from a stream then made our way through the snow field down into the valley below. 

We crossed a river on a log then stopped for lunch break on a snow free piece of land right after the stream. I took my soaking shoes off and put them and my socks in the sun. After lunch we kept going  but then Nick and I made a stop and Fox and Eskimo kept going. 

It was so frustrating trying to find the trail because footsteps would sometimes end or lead you astray. The sun was warming up the snow so every fifth to tenth step was a post hole, sometimes to the thigh. It was so exhausting and frustrating and I just wanted to be at camp. We only had three miles from the lunch spot but the first mile took over an hour.

We were bushwhacking back to trail after a set of footprints led us into a swamp full of downed trees when Nick stumbled upon some wild onions. He was ecstatic, I sat down on trail with my backpack kind of over the day already. I had already had a little mental/emotional breakdown after I postholed every step for ten steps in a row and then fell down a little hill when my leg was trapped in the snow, spinning myself around on my pack so my head was now downhill while my leg was trapped in the snow. 

Nick collected some onions for us and we kept going. We made it another mile before seeing Fox and Eskimo who stopped a mile short because they were done hiking in the slushy snow. We decided to push the one more mile so the following day would be that much easier. 

We made it one more mile, walking along the river that had so many different water fall spots. We created our own trail and tried to stay on dry land as much as possible but still had about 50% or more of snow covered walking. We eventually made it to camp, got set up and went about our evening chores. Nick set up his hammock tarp and we both slept under that. I taught him how to play rumie a while ago and now he is a fanatic so we played some of that before going to bed. 

Day 69 Start: 788.2 End: 789.7 + 7.5 mile side trail to onion valley campground

Total: 9 miles

It was a tough morning waking up around 4:30, I really did not want to get out of bed. I got up and went to the bathroom and saw two headlights change course and head towards us. It was Fox and Eskimo who camped a mile behind us. They waited while we packed up and then we all left together. It would be 1.5 miles to a trail junction where we then would have to hike 7.5 miles to get to a campground where we would hope to hitch into town. 

Immediately after leaving camp we had a few smaller stream crossings. The trail started going up and we took a few breaks. After an hour or so we made it to the junction for Kearsarge Pass, our ticket for town. We passed a few beautiful and frozen alpine lakes and bobbed and weaved our way through the forest. Navigation once again was pretty annoying and tricky but we eventually made it to the base of the pass. 

There were a couple hikers heading down, they took 2 days off in bishop after both having some tumbles coming down Forrester. They also tried to follow the trail but go led to a pretty steep section of snow. 

Getting to the top was fairly easy. When we got up there was a sketchy section on a steep slope heading down to the lake so I put on my spikes and got out my ice axe. Moved slowly and carefully across that without issue. Half of the switchbacks on the way down were covered in snow still so it was a mix of going straight down on the snow and taking the path. 

We got down and waited at the road in hopes someone would give us a ride. We saw a biker and jokingly asked if he could give us a ride down. We struck up a conversation with him and eventually he offered to bike down and drive back up and get us. He was from the coast, training for biking in Switzerland and had nothing going on that day. He said it would only take him about 25 to bike down. We graciously accepted. 

After nearly an hour he hadn’t returned and a truck was starting to leave. Two older gentlemen who had just hiked up and skied down. We were antsy to get to town and unsure if the biker would follow through so we got a ride down with them in the back of their pickup truck. We felt really bad when we saw our biker friend coming up and realized how long the road actually was. 

In the town of Independence we got dropped off at the post office where Nick and I had a package. We all then went across the street to the gas station and hung out there a bit while Nick and I tried to figure out our plan. We initially were going to try to get to Mammoth but that would mean we would need to get back on trail the following morning and do 14 miles a day for 9 days. 14 miles in the snowy, melting sierras is a lot. That would mean waking up at 2/3 in the morning to do one or two mountain passes by the time the snow started to melt. 

After seeing for ourselves what the Sierras looked like and how hard doing that mileage would be, we decided to change the plan and take it super easy. Now we would only do 60 miles over 6 days instead of 125 over 9. It would mean less mileage and trail time for Nick but overall probably a more enjoyable time. 

We decided we would go spend the night and following day in Bishop, a town 40 minutes North but with more going on than Independence. Fox and Eskimo were headed there as well. Eskimo started the trail with his dad but his dad couldn’t do the sierras with his asthma so Eskimo will be waiting in bishop 10 days for his dad to come out and visit him. Fox was pretty done with the trail after doing Mt. Whitney and Forrester and was considering getting off trail but will more likely probably just let some of the snow melt. 

Around 2pm we were waiting for someone from the gas station to give us a ride up to Bishop when the bus going to Lone Pine stopped right in front of the gas station. Lone pine is 15 minutes south but that is the town nearest to where Nick parked his car. at the last second we pivoted our plan to go get his car and we’re running across the street with our boxes of food and trekking poles in hand waving down the bus as it drove away. It stopped a bit up the road and we continued to it. 

It was $7 each and cash only though and neither of us had cash. The lady in the bus who saw us and told the driver to stop gave us her last two punches of her bus punch pass. We offered to repay her in town but she wouldn’t have it. 

When we got to Lone Pine we still had a long way to go. Nicks car was parked at the Cottonwood Pass Trailhead, 20 miles up a steep and windy road. There is a campground up there but it isn’t open so there is very little traffic going up. We got another bus ride to the base of the steep switchbacks going up, it was as far as that driver would take us. 

We were then in the middle of the desert on a deserted road and realized that we didn’t even have any water. A car passed , we stuck up our thumbs and he stopped right away, but he wasn’t going all the way up. Another car was going the opposite way back to town and we flagged them down to see if we could pay them to go back up. He said no but he gave us some water which was nice. A few other cars going the other way stopped but none were willing to go back up. 3/4 other cars passed in an hour but none would pick us up. 

We started to get a bit desperate and try to call some trail angels around town but they all wanted $60-90 to give us a ride. We were starting to consider that but missed two of the cheaper opportunities for rides. We were getting ready to give up and walk 2 miles up the road to a spot we could camp when a truck that passed 20 minutes before started coming back down. We waived frantically to them and they stopped. We offered to pay them to go back up and the man said him and his son felt bad for us and had turned back around to get us. They were going camping and fishing at the exact spot Nick had his car!

We hopped in the back of his pickup and were finally heading up that long and windy road. We got to nicks car and threw our stuff in, went back down to Lone Pine, got some tacos, then drove to Bishop where we showered at the public pool the. Got cheeseburgers and camped a bit outside of town on BLM land. 

Day 70 ZERO

We woke up, went back into town, did laundry, got coffee, breakfast, and did other town chores. We heard there was a bus down to lone pine at 2 so we were organizing our bags and fold, charging our electronics and getting ready to go.

A group of hikers started leaving the hostel at 12:40 and I asked them where the bus station was and confirmed the bus was at 2. They said it was down by Vons, the grocery store about a mile away. And the bus arrives in Lone Pine at 2 but leaves Bishop at 1. I was ready to go but Nick was not. We needed to leave right then to make it. He hurried to finish his packing and organizing his things and we left the hostel around 1 pm.

We were hoping we could flag the bus down. We walked fast and then almost gave up when a bus we flagged didn’t stop. We then saw another bus and started hustling a bit more. We made it at 1:20 and the bus was just arriving. We jogged through the parking lot and made it just in time.

We took the bus down with a bunch of other hikers, got some tacos then got a ride back up to the trailhead where we slept at the campground right at the base of the pass we would climb the next day.