Day 111 Fri Oct 13th
Tent site (5 Bear box) – Kearsarge Pass – Bishop
1859.7 – 1864.9
Approx. 2782 ft ascent 4154 ft descent
12.8 Miles
We woke up to another cold morning. It was so cold the ice was forming in our cups as I filtered water.
Sarah’s new hand warmers seem to be working a treat + we did most of our chores inside the tent before venturing out.
As we packed up our gear a Coyote howled in the distance not too far away from where we camped. Maybe he’s saying good morning. Hopefully we might catch a glimpse of him as we walk further down the trail.
As we set off the ground is frozen and we walk through frozen puddles of water. Within the first 5 minutes my feet break through the ice and I end up with soaking wet tootsies.
Annoyingly this means I need to change my socks and put on my waterproof Sealskinz socks over the top of a clean pair of wool Merinos. Just as we had got started…. Very annoying!
It’s not long before we pass a Rangers cabin and then Rai Lakes.
It’s pristine and possibly one of my favourite lakes so far. There’s an island in the middle and it’s flat calm only interrupted by feeding trout breaking the surface.
We reached an outlet from the lake where we could see some small trout sitting waiting for any food to pass by in the water flowing from the lake.
We were on a time crunch today, but Sarah persuaded me to try and catch one of them. Within the 2nd cast I caught a lovely little Golden Trout.
It was a nice start to the day before the big climb up to Glen pass.
On the climb up from Rai Lakes we met two climbers both called Eric that had been out in the mountains for the last few days.
We spent a couple of hours in their company and both were really decent chaps.
Eric 1 (Red jacket Eric) had done the PCT before and knew the area very well.
Eric 2 had flown in from sea level only a few days before and now at 12,000 feet + he was experiencing some nasty symptoms of altitude sickness.
We remember when we flew into Jackson Hole on the way to Yellowstone and how we went from sea level to 6000 ft feet. We felt pretty awful.
Poor Eric was at twice this elevation and climbing.
It was nice to have some company on trail and we all had a lot of things in common. With a clear love and appreciation of the mountains.
We were also joined by a Ranger who had been stationed up in the mountains all summer. He had some interesting things to say and added another dynamic to the group’s conversation.
Naturally I had lots of questions and was very envious of how he got to stay out here.
Sarah asked how do you get your food supplies if you’re out here all summer.
He replied that it is bought in by helicopter or pack horses at the start of the summer.
Towards the top of Glen pass we came up against a lot of snow and had to drop down off trail to avoid a steeper section that looked a little sketchy.
We would have been fine wearing our spikes, but went for the easy option as Sarah was struggling with her foot and the altitude.
We all were heading for Kearsarge pass and Onion valley. Eric offered us a ride to Bishop.
On the descent down we took the high route and they opted to take the lower route via Bullfrog lake. Planning to meet up later at the trailhead.
Getting a ride will really help speed up our progress vs catching a bus and having to wait around.
The high route was extraordinarily picturesque. The sky was so blue behind the mountains that it almost looked like the ocean.
The view of the lake also wasn’t too shabby and having this higher elevation really helped us take in the surrounding landscape.
Today is proving to be a busy day on trail and we then bumped into another couple of hikers that were brothers called Michael and Jake. They had taken the Rai lake loop and had been out hiking together for the last 6 days.
I told them that I was envious of their broship and I would like to do something similar with my brother.
They told us how they had chased a black bear away and had some footage of the Coyote we had heard this morning, as it stood howling on a rock close to where they had camped.
We also bumped into a group of other fresh faced sobo’s heading back in the opposite direction. They had been to Bishop via Kearsarge pass and gave us the lowdown on where to go and stay.
We only recognised one of them, but they thought they had heard about Sarah and I for some reason. Maybe from the trail register or through some of our other friends.
As we cross the top of the pass we look down onto a frozen pool of ice.
Looking back at the pass the ridge line forms a jagged spine like a dragon’s back, running from left to right overlooking the frozen pool below.
It felt good to be getting off trail and we were both very excited to be heading off of the mountains for a few days.
Sarah’s foot is a real concern and seems to be getting worse. I fear she may have a stress fracture and we need to get it looked at ASAP.
We hiked down to the trailhead with the 2 brothers and it was nice talking with them about our travels.
Michael offered us a ride into Bishop. So as we hadn’t seen any sign either Eric we graciously accepted. We left a note for the Eric duo on the ground by the trail to let them know and headed down the mountain.
We got to a small town called Independence realising that Bishop was actually a little further than we had first thought, nearly 40 miles away.
Michael and Jake had a plane to catch back to Montreal, so we jumped out saying we could hopefully get the bus after all.
Sarah and I sat by the bus stop on the ground eating ice cream and drinking soda like homeless bums.
It wasn’t long before the Eric duo rocked up and we were back in business driving into Bishop.
We got into Bishop around 17:00 and then spent the next few hours trying to sort our room for the night.
We must have called around 15 motels, checked AirBnB and tried all the usual sources like Facebook for trail angels, but we were out of luck and everyone was fully booked.
Bishop is a gateway town and on Friday night it sees a lot of traffic passing through. With many choosing to stay here to break up their journey.
After much frustration we ended up staying at a campsite right on the edge of town called Brown’s Town campgrounds.
It costs 40 bucks just to pitch our tent and as you could imagine neither of us were best pleased.
We had been hoping for a nice warm hotel room for a few days and again we were forced to stay outside in a tent.
That said it was much warmer down at this lower elevation and the campsite was rammed with lots of others staying here.
We made the best of the situation and set our tent up in our designated plot and hoped that tomorrow we would be able to sort something better.
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