6/23/2017 Tentsite 787.1 to Lone Pine via Kearsarge Pass 789.1

Today we planned to pick up our resupply in Independence before the post office closes at 4. In order to do that we needed to hike roughly 10 miles over Kearsarge Pass. It was the scariest day on the trail to date. 

We woke up at 4:15 a.m. and hit the trail after 2.Toe, Yote, Godongo, and Murphy’s Law. We immediately hit a wide fast moving stream. The trail crossed at a shallow point but Sherpa really didn’t want to get wet so early in the morning. We walked up stream and found a log that crossed to a snow bridge over a narrow but deep and fast moving rapid. I crossed without incident but when Sherpa followed it the snow bridge collapsed under her and she fell into the water bashing her knee on a rock.  She was able to stand in the water but she was soaking wet in icy snow melt. I grabbed her arm and we made our way back to the south side. We both wanted to cross as quickly as possible as she was very scared and very cold. We went back to the shallow and crossed without incident. Then she stripped and changed into my leggings and her dry shirt. She was really shaken by the experience and it really scared me as well. I don’t think we were in any serious danger but it was dark and cold and it made it feel really dramatic. 

That set the tone for the rest of the day. Any time we came near a snow bridge, and there were a lot, Sherpa would get really scared and had to calm herself down. We thought the others must be way ahead because we were crawling along. Or so we thought. Instead we saw the group before we hit the Bullfrog lake. Everyone was having their own challenges. Such is the trail. No use in bemoaning your pace, because you are not alone. 

The hike was beautiful but it was hard to fully appreciate it with the early morning experience. Sherpa was as always such a champion and worked through her fears throughout the day and it was a difficult, steep hike where our only indication of the trail was thousands of footprints going in all directions. Luckily the pass was easy to spot and so we trudged along in the best way possible. 

After the pass the mood lightened somewhat but the hike didn’t let up. It was still steep and challenging.  We did get some good glisading and skiing in though and eventually came across a georgous lake with massive waterfalls feeding it.  So startlingly breathtaking. 

Our final descent to the parking lot was wandering with lots of switchbacks.  A lot of the hikers were cutting the switchbacks because they were probably used to the freedom of snow hiking where you can’t even see the trail to follow it. We decided to stay as true as we could for the trail’ s sake. When we finally reached the parking lot 2.Toe and Yote we’re already gone and had descended down the road because there was a road closure due to runoff. 

We followed their footsteps and picked up Godongo along the way. We Found ourselves after a short while at the end of the closure where a bunch of cars were parked and we started hitching.  It looked like it was going to be pretty hopeless for a while as everyone seemed to be coming in and not going out. 

We chatted up people that were coming in and found ourselves with a couple Dale’s Pale Ales. A short while later we saw a hiker descending to the parking lot. Sherpa was on it and asked him for a ride. He eagerly and graciously accepted and we were soon on our way down the 13 mile winding steep mountain road. 

We passed a lot of hikers who didn’t want to wait and they had given up and were trying to hitch again. We felt bad but Rich, our car host, had a car full of gear and Sherpa was already sitting on my lap. 

Rich was great and we stopped by his campsite while he put on his sandals and he offered us some beers. We had a great chat and heard about his many business ventures passed and present. 

After beers we loaded up and he drove us to Independence and there we were reunited with all the hikers we had seen in the last couple days. We grabbed our packages and within minutes a man and woman pulled up and asked if anyone wanted to go to Lone Pine and we said yes! They needed to run errands and then they said they would be back in 10 minutes. As always it was just enough time for the four of us to get ourselves together. 

We hopped in and hit the road for Lone Pine where Yote and 2.Toe had already secured a room. We arrived and spent most of the rest of the day kicking back in the room and doing chores. 

2.Toe and Yote came back from the post office with some big news. They were going to flip. They were having fun in the snow but were feeling the pressure of the slow pace to meet their time window. Our first thought was we are really going to miss them our second thought was should we flip? After such a crazy day it seemed really appealing. 

We would sleep on it. And we did, we turned up the a.c. and turned down the sheets and slept like little hiker babies.