Day 43 -44- Kearsage Pass — Walking People Out of Poverty

May 29

Depart Lone Pine

Arrive Mile 788

On May 28th I was up early and went to Alabama Hills Cafe and picked up a coffee and huge Cinnamon Bun which was only $5 and went back to my room to enjoy it. Later I met up with Andy for breakfast at the cafe where we started plotting and planning how and where to get back on the trail. It was agreed we would meet up at lunch, at the pizza place that was across from my hotel and next door to Andy’s, talk about convenient!! After breakfast I wandered up one side of the Main Street and back down the other enquiring about the best way to get back on the trail, but after Forester Pass. I was advised that the US Parks Service had an information office on the outskirts of town which entailed a round trip of about 3 miles, and so I set off on a rather warm morning.

It was an interesting enough walk, as I came across a couple of neat road signs that were steeped in history, and you will have to wait for the pictures to find more information. Ultimately, apart from signage history lessons, it was a fruitless journey as the information provided was nothing better than what I’d already received, so I started my return walk into town. The heat was now building but after about 1/2 a mile a couple of ladies, who were pulling out of the parking lot of a business they’d been visiting kindly offered me a ride which I gratefully accepted. Before you knew it I was back in town and so went up to my room to do some blogging before meeting Andy. Met up with Andy at the appointed time and had a pizza and ginger ale and made plans to meet up for dinner. Andy had laundry and stuff to do and I was trying to sort out how to get to the trailhead to Kearsage Pass, so we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. After wandering in and out of several stalls I finally hit a home run. I had been in and out of Elevation, which was a climbing and hiking store, to nose around, (it’s a way of killing time in small towns), and asked the young lady who worked there if she knew how I could get to the trailhead at Kearsage Pass. The young lady’s name was Kayla and she said “I could take you”.

Turns out the following day was Kayla’s day off and she was heading to Bishop, which is about 60 miles away, to do her grocery shopping. This demonstrates what a small town Lone Pine is. I was ecstatic, and asked if I could buy Kayla breakfast in the morning. After some arm wrestling we settled on 7 am. I met Andy, at 7 pm and shared the news about the ride and then we wandered around town trying to figure out where to eat, and finally settled on the Chinese Restaurant just down the street from my hotel. If truth be known everything’s just down the street!! At the restaurant I was able to talk them into creating an Asian salad, with mandarin oranges and nuts, and when it came it was huge! My salad was both tasty and enjoyable. Over dinner Andy shared the news that Susie had climbed Mt. Whitney, a 14,000 foot plus peak that about 85% of hikers take a day off from the PCTA to hike up. After “bagging Whitney Susie then knocked off Forester. We had a big day tomorrow and decided to call it a night and I returned to my room to do more blogging before shutting down for the night.

May 29th

Up at 5:30am and jumped into the shower where I lingered for a while, I figured as this would probably be my last one for a week or so. Little did I know it would be another 10 weeks before I would feel the warmth that a shower brings!! (See my blog Inglorious Ending for more details). Packed my bag and then unpacked it, as there was something buried in the bottom that I needed. Why does that happen? I checked out shortly before 7 am and walked over to the cafe to meet Andy and Kayla for breakfast. We were at the trailhead for 9 am. I’m so thankful for Kayla’s kindness, as it’s a really long drag from the main road up to Kearsage Pass, all of it uphill! We said our goodbyes and then set off.

We were about 45 minutes up the trail when we had to stop due to a shoe lace coming undone. We were just about to resume walking when we were caught by a Park Ranger who was just starting her shift. We were asked to produce our walking permits and Andy didn’t have one, as he was only doing a short 2-3 day long hike. I being completely honest, which was about to come back and bite me, explained that I had lost my Permit, and the truth of the matter was I didn’t know when. I was then told I would have to leave the trail and go down to Independence to get one. I tried to reason with the young woman who was wielding such a big stick but to no avail. First I asked if I could get by with an electronic copy on my cell phone, and was told no because it could easily be someone else’s. I then said “what if I could back it up with my passport?", to which she replied that was not acceptable. It’s funny when you think about it, as I can board a plane using my phone and yet I’m unable to walk on a hiking trail. Buereacracy at times can be incredibly frustrating and I’d better end my rant here before I get into trouble. It was with a sad and heavy heart that I said farewell to Andy, and I set off down the hill to try to hitch a ride down to Independence.

The problem I was going to have was the fact that the only people likely to be coming up the road were day hikers, or PCT’ers who were getting dropped off, and as the day wore on that would become less and less. There were several hikers ahead of me and I figured I was 5th in line for a hitch. It was a beautiful morning which made it all the more difficult to come off the trail, and as the minutes ticked by the more frustrated I became. After over an hour or so two of the hikers were successful in getting a hitch which now placed me in 3rd spot. It must have been a good 90 minutes before the next vehicle arrived which was an Uber. The guy offered to take 3 people back down to Independence for a total of $20.00. I was more than happy to pay my $7.00 to get out of “Dodge “, and after throwing my gear in the trunk hastily climbed in. Before I knew it I was in Independence and started to hunt around for somewhere that might have a computer to print my permit. I started first with the Post Office, but because it was lunchtime they were closed. The next place I tried was a local government building but again was out of luck due to it being lunchtime. I then tried the store, the only one in town, but they couldn’t help so I decided it might pay me to have lunch and try a little later, at least that way people might be back from lunch. I had just about finished lunch when who should show up but Scientist, who I last saw in Kennedy Meadows. Scientist joined me and we got caught up, and it was this point I asked if she wouldn’t mind looking after my bag whilst I went to see if I could get my permit printed.

I went down the road to a most magnificent building which turned out to be the courthouse. In the building I worked my way down to the library, which was located in the basement, and explained my problem to the lady in charge and after several attempts we came up empty. A 2nd lady arrived, and enquired if she might be able to help, and set about trying to solve my problem. Finally, after a couple of failed attempts it was determined that I might not be connected to the web, and so the ladies walked me through the process of getting access to their system. No sooner was I connected that my permit was finally printed. I then asked if they would be able to print me 3 copies, and shortly thereafter I was presented with my precious permits. After expressing my thanks I raced back to Scientist and by now there was a small congregation of hikers gathered at the store. Scientist and I had a meeting about next steps, and because it had passed 2pm we were anxious to get on the trail. A half dozen hikers had already got away and we found them lying in the shade of a huge tree by the side of the road that led up to the trailhead. This meant they would get a ride ahead of us, as we had decided to keep walking even though it was ridiculously hot. We had gone about a quarter of a mile up the road when we turned and noticed another lone hiker heading in our direction.

Shortly afterwards a little old lady came out of her house and offered us home made cookies which we happily accepted. We decided to save a couple for the hiker who was rapidly catching up to us. After sharing our bounty we finally were “rescued” by a couple in a huge black truck, and we were dropped off at the trail head shortly after 3pm. Finally, after taking a bathroom break we finally started up the trail at about 10 past 3. On our way up we passed several of the day hikers I had seen earlier in the day, and exchanged greetings but that was all as we were anxious to get some miles under our belts. The walk up was very pleasant and we arrived at the first of several lakes, this one being named after a famous town in my home county of Derbyshire in England. The lake in question was called Matlock Lake, and although small it was very pretty. We finally reached the top of the Pass and the views were spectacular., so we stopped for a selfie (see the picture below) and a video. We now had a choice which was the high trail or the low! The decision was made for us by the thunder that was rumbling around, and as I said to Scientist I would rather get down low, just in case! Fortunately the further down we descended the more distant the thunder got, and we soon reached the John Muir Trail which the PCT runs along. After getting sidetracked we realized we needed to back track but it was all good as within 20 minutes or so we found a very acceptable campsite.

Scientist preferred a spot that was slightly more exposed, whereas I quite liked the sight I had which was set in some trees. After getting my tent set up, and cleaning off my feet and legs, I joined Scientist to cook our respective dinners and spent a most enjoyable hour or so with her. I will tell you more about this remarkable young woman in my next blog. It was now getting pretty cold so after cleaning my cooking pot and utensils I returned to the warmth of my tent to write my blog.

Early morning sunrise in Lone Pine.

The road down from Horseshoe Meadow.

For those of an older generation here are a couple of Indigenous American names that were made even more famous by Westerns in the late 50’s and 60’s.