47 — Glen Pass, Rae Lakes

Mile 789.1–793.5 (+7.6 miles side trail from Onion Valley TH, over Kearsarge Pass to PCT) (12 miles)

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Rose: making my miles and sticking to my plan despite the delays and the later hour Thorn: so much mucus that I was hacking up on Glen Pass Bud: my bounce box is finally getting bounced up to Mammoth! I’ll get my tent inner soon ?

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The hostel was noisy last night. Someone took a shower rather late. That’s okay because I took a shower at around six. I had chores to finish this morning: washing and packing the kale, figuring out how to repackage the Bitchin’ Sauce, cram what I could into my bear canister, pack up the pack. I talked with other hikers in the hostel kitchen while I prepped. At 8am I left for the walk to the bus stop.

The bus would take me (and several other hikers) from Bishop to Independence where we would then hitch. I posted on Instagram and downloaded new podcasts on the ride.

In Independence, the other hikers picked up resupply boxes at the post office. I instead enlisted the help of the postal worker to get ahold of the Acton Post Office. My bounce box has been stuck there for weeks. We arrived in Acton on a Sunday, so I wasn’t able to handle my box. Inside the box is my tent inner, pot and stove, and some vitamins. It’s starting to get buggy, so I would like my tent inner. I also have run out of vitamins. I would like to buy some flax seed oil and add the bottle to the box. As for the pot and stove, idk. I don’t mind the cold soaking at all. I’ll likely weigh them and make judgements. I can’t deny that, with the upcoming foul weather and the previous cold, a cup of hot cocoa sounds good.

The postal worker told me that I had the wrong number! He gave me the internal number used by mail carriers to the PO. I finally got someone on the phone! They’re bouncing the box up to Mammoth Lakes for me.

And double gold news, the other hikers had arranged a shuttle driver, so I was able to jump in the car with them.

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Kearsarge Pass was a lot of elevation gain, as anticipated, but I took it slow and took some planned breaks: I ran into the same wilderness Ranger from a couple days ago. We talked shop. Then I took a lunch break on a massive boulder overlooking one of the small lakes on the way up (I eyed that lunch spot on my way down). And then I ran into Legend, the TA from CLEEF at the southern terminus. He talks a lot.

By the time I reached where Kearsarge Pass trail rejoined the PCT, it was later than planned. The clouds weren’t threatening though so I pushed on ahead over Glen Pass. At the top of the pass I was joined by a hiker named Emmett. On the descent there were a few short patches of snow. I could tell he wasn’t comfortable at all on snow (“I’m from Texas!”), so I coached him a bit.

Then hurry hurry to get to Rae Lakes before complete darkness. I have too much food. I needed the bear box at the lake to stash my extra smellables.

I set up my tent in the dusk and ate a small dinner by headlamp. I packed some fresh food this time round. I need it. Im sick of tuna packets and ramen. So I made a wrap with spinach wraps, kale, bacon bits, crispy tortilla strips, and pesto bitchin sauce. It was delicious. I will have to do more wraps in the future.