August 7, 2014
We woke early today to make it to our pick up point on-time. We said goodbye to Jackie Ray and Tiphane which was sad. I'm psyched for them to summit Whitney in a couple days, but it was sad to say goodbye to them. I wish we all could have finished the trail together! I will really miss their company, it's been so much fun to have them as our trail buddies. As a final hurrah and to take advantage of a native French speaker, I made sure I could count to 20 in French, with Tiphane's coaching of course. Many "tres biens" were generously and patiently dolled out :)
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| Beautiful morning light on Bullfrog Lake |
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| Bullfrog Lake |
We cruised to the base of Kearsarge Pass and continued up and over the rocky pass. Not too bad of a climb up compared to other passes, only 1000 feet of gain on very well graded switchbacks. We had a gorgeous view from the top of the pass of Kearsarge Lakes and Bullfrog Lake. And when we got to the other side at the top, off in the distance, we could see a road!! WOOT! Civilization! We're close to our resupply point! There was a man who got to the top of the pass from the opposite direction a few minutes after we got there. He took our picture and we chatted with him for a little bit. Then it was down 2000 feet to the trailhead. We practically flew down the trail! We were so excited for our resupply! We didn't stop for a break at all today except for a short time at the top of the pass.
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| Kearsarge Lakes |
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| Almost there! |
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| Looking back west from where we came from, Kearsarge Lakes and Bullfrog Lake |
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| Just about to walk over the pass to the other side. The rock formation on the right reminded me of the rock markers/ way finders the natives of the Arctic use called inukshuks, similar to what we call cairns. |
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| Looking towards the east, the other side of the pass. You can see the trail on the left side |
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| Kearsarge Pass 11,760 ft |
Because I was going fast down the pass, my feet and knees killed when we got to the bottom! We arrived at the trailhead where there were pit toilets and a water spigot, woot! And, to our great surprise, Taku from Japan was sitting on the bear lockers at the trailhead!! He was also resupplying at the Mt Williamson Motel! We last saw him at Red's Meadow more than 2 weeks ago! Didn't think we'd ever see him again-- cool!! I shared the little bit of food I had left with him- jerky and jelly beans, much to his great enjoyment. The guy was not eating enough calories, he was so skinny! He said he was always hungry, eating measly portions of oatmeal and soup. Poor guy! He said he was going to get more food in town so he wouldn't be so hungry for the last leg of the trail.
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| Headed down the pass toward FOOD! And a shower! |
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| This lake reminded me of an infinity pool |
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| Another pretty lake on the way down the pass |
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| ROAD! |
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| Taku! |
Doug from the motel picked the 3 of us up at the trailhead right on time and took us to the motel. The temperature difference from the top of the pass, to the trailhead to the town of Independence was crazy! It was cold and windy at the top of the pass, maybe 50 degrees. It was hot and dry at the trailhead, at least 80. And it was HAWT and dry in the town, 100+ degreez! The elevation change was wild too, from 11,760 ft at the top of the pass, to 9,600 at the trailhead, to 3,930 in the town of Independence. We had fun marveling at how neat cars were. The car took us down more elevation in 10 minutes than we could do in 2 days!!
Doug and Strider, the owners and operators of the Mt Williamson Motel, hooked us up with a cute little cabin, had our resupply buckets waiting, did our laundry and recommended some places to eat in town that were open. It was wonderful to get our clothes laundered! It had been more than 12 days since our last laundry and shower... Oh a shower. It felt so good to be clean!! My head was so itchy and dirty!
After we got our laundry back and had each taken a shower, we ventured out in the super hot sun and heat to get some FOOD! I was also craving juice for some reason. We walked to the recommended taco truck and we were not disappointed! Big ol burritos! The truck only takes cash and thankfully we had $20 American dollars on us...and we spent it all! We were so stuffed we felt sick all night...which was unfortunate as I really did think at a couple points that I was going to puke. I think it was a combination of the sweltering heat and the heavy foods. I was definitely dehydrated too.
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| My hair is clean and so are my clothes, OLE! |
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| Taco truck |
After we ate, we walked to the "Eastern California Museum", which was closed. Darn. So we walked in the scorching sun, I actually got a blister burn on the back of my neck from the necklace I was wearing! to the gas station/small convenience store to buy a few items, including 2 pints of ice cream and 2 bottles of juice, and then headed back to our room to sort our resupply buckets and bask in the luxury of AIR CONDITIONING.
It took us a long time to sort through our resupplies and then repack our bear cans. When we finally finished, we packed up our backpacks so the next morning we could sleep in as late as possible.
It felt wonderful to be in a bed! My feet, ankles, and knees hurt and are very tired and stiff. I'm not looking forward to the 5 miles and 2000 feet of gain up to the top of Kearsarge Pass again tomorrow morning!
Plug for Mt Williamson Motel- resupply here. You will NOT regret it. Yes, you have to go off trail. Yes, it costs more than a regular resupply pick up, but you get a private room and shower, they do your laundry, they pick up your resupply bucket and they make you breakfast the next morning. And they take you to and from the trailhead. Doug and Strider are so nice and accommodating! They are warm, friendly and experienced hikers. JMT, PCT, they've done em, so they know and understand what hikers need and want. They've got a great system that works like clockwork. We loved our stay here and almost wished we would have taken a rest day here! If you don't want to go off trail, they also offer resupply services where they will hike in your supplies. Just give em a call, they are always happy to chat and answer questions.
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