Day 55: Kearsarge Pass & Into Bishop

Date: Mon 6/11

PCT Start Mile: 789.0

PCT End Mile: 789.1

PCT Mileage for Day: .1

Kearsarge Pass Trail Mileage: 7.5

Total PCT Mileage: 789.1

Total Mileage for Day: 7.6

The Highlights: Kearsarge Pass, Onion Valley, and into Bishop

This morning we packed up and left camp at 6am. We went a whopping total of .1 miles on the PCT before turning onto the Kearsarge Pass Trail, which would lead us over Kearsarge Pass and to the Onion Valley trailhead, from which we would head into Bishop.

The morning was cold and I started out fast, gradually slowing as the terrain became steeper and rockier.

The trail hiked high over Bullfrog Lake, with spectacular views of the Kearsarge Pinnacles glowing in the morning sun as we climbed to the pass. Another beautiful view over the Sierras as we hit the top of the pass at 11,760ft.

At the top of the pass, we almost didn’t even notice a man perched up in the rocks, sitting in the sun. I said good morning to him as I took pictures around the pass.

When Squishy arrived to the top of the pass, he greeted her by her real name (Emily), completely shocking her. It was her uncle! We thought he would be meeting us in the parking lot, another 4.5 miles down the trail, but he’d camped at the trailhead last night and hiked up to meet us at the top of the pass.

After introductions, we were off and hiking down the other side of the pass into Onion Valley, passing beautiful lakes and waterfalls en route to the trailhead. This trail ended up being a giant reunion as we ran into hikers we hadn’t seen since the first 100-400 miles of the trail – Thumbelina, Mouse, and others who didn’t even have trail names yet when we last spoke (and now I can’t remember them).

In the parking lot, we all piled into Uncle Squishy’s (Rick’s) Prius for the 55 mile drive to Bishop, one of the longest hitches on the trail. We were definitely lucky we didn’t have to hitch. Squishy’s California family has been most helpful.

My Iowa family will be interested to know that Squishy’s mom’s side of the family is from Iowa, though her mom and Uncle Rick only lived there <10 years before moving to California. They do make it back for visits though and even Squishy has been to the Iowa State Fair. Crazy.

The drive from Onion Valley weaved forever down down down from the mountains and into the high desert. Windows down to save Uncle Rick from our stench.

We passed through Independence, a ghost town that PCT hikers are typically forced to pass by because everything is closed, and continued on to Bishop, a medium sized mountain town with a population of about 4,000ish. Most businesses are located along the Main Street, which is Highway 395.

After a quick tour down the Main Street, Uncle Squishy pointing out important things like the bakery, grocery store, brewery, and the Verizon store (for Shawn to get a new phone), he dropped Shawn and I at the Travel Lodge, where we had just booked a room this morning once we had cell service along the final stretch of the trail.

Checked in, the first order of business was showers – always so exciting. The rest of the day was spent eating, procuring a new phone for Shawn, taking care of our grocery resupply, organizing and cleaning gear, and more eating. Tomorrow morning will be laundry.

Later in the evening Squishy and LOL picked us up in Uncle Rick’s Prius and we headed to the Brewery for dinner, continuing Shawn’s brewery tour of the PCT.

Tomorrow we are taking a zero here in Bishop and on Wednesday we’ll be headed back to the trail 🙂