What a great lazy day to spend out in Lone Pine! Obviously, first things first, I had to hit up Alabama Hills Cafe for some good breaky! I got there and there was about a 30 minute wait for any party with two or more people! I was able to scoot right in at the bar and was so thankful that I didn’t have to wait!
I forgot it happened to be Sunday morning!!
Default hot cocoa of course :) This was the best I’ve had yet on trail!
I didn’t take any pictures of what I ate because I started eating it the instant it arrived in front of my face, haha. I had the “Ironman Omelet” stuffed with huge pieces of mushrooms and avocado and lots of spinach, smothered with great house hollandaise. Of course it came with a healthy portion of hasbrowns AND a huge biscuit!! You can say I was in heaven :)
On top of that, two ladies on a table nearby left the cafe having only taken nibbles of their huge plates, without taking their food togo. As a frugal, resourceful, and always hungry hiker, I asked the waitress if I could just box up the remainder and take it so it wouldn’t go to waste and she said absolutely! (Don’t worry, I cut off the bitten parts, (which really wasn’t all that much))...
Score!!
I gave the bottom plate which contained a good looking hash and biscuit to Wounded Knee, (or Tatanka, as his knee is no longer wounded..) He may be even more frugal than I and was very stoked on the free food. I decided to head back out to make a stop at the outfitter for a few items. Just out the door of the second story hostel room, I took this sweet pano:
What a great view of the mountains in Lone Pine!
I headed to the outfitter with my $35 Costco trekking poles. I use my poles semi-aggressively on both uphill climbs and for downhill support. Because they were prett cheap to being with, the carbide tips had fallen right off within the first couple hundred miles, and the metal has gotten flatter and more rounded, almost to the point of getting down to the plastic!
Out with the old...
In with the new!!
I was able to buy replacement tips for the more expensive Black Diamond piles for only $5! They even took my old tips off and installed the new ones for me. (This is a lot more painstaking than in sounds, as the tips are glued onto the poles and aren’t really made to come off..) I picked up a small fuel canister for my stove arriving tomorrow, got some new AAA batteries for my headlamp, and also got some sweet polarized sunglasses for only $30! I really wanted to get polarized glasses to help with snow glare, as I’m gonna be seeing A LOT of it over the next couple weeks... There was also a store dog named Bailey! She’s 14 years old and so mellow and well behaved! What a great store!
Bailey the store dog..
My new “sunna shades” hahaha
I headed black to the nice cold A/C’d room, and got to FaceTime Claire for a little while. Around noon, Julian texted me and told them they were getting a hitch in and would be here soon! I knew those youngin’s would catch up quick!! I went down to meet them and they both checked into the hostel and got the same room as me! Then, of course, we went straight to go eat some more food! This was round 3 for me, since I ate hat other togo plate from the cafe at around 10am...
PCT hiker special bowl at Merry Go Round, an AMAZING Chinese restaurant on the same block as (basically connected to), the hostel. The owners are very cool and have been cooking for over 40 years!
We went back to our room after that, and the last space had been filled by a girl named Irene. Shortly afterwards, Julian heard from Stache and Solo that they had made it into town too! We invited them up to shower and hang out and Irene took a group picture for us!
The gang: Stache, Keglegs, Solo, Muah, y Julian
Stache and Solo are leaving early tomorrow morning, and they aren't going to summit Whitney, and they are going to get off at Kearsarge, a couple days before us. This means chances are we won’t see them again for a while, but possibly in the tail end of the Sierra..
96° at 6:45pm!!!
The day was super hot, and most of it was spent relaxing, chatting, taking advantage of the A/C room, eating more, and obsessively checking maps, conditions, and other hikers that have already been through the gnarly passes and creeks ahead, and reading their reports on their experiences.
I’m not gonna lie, there’s some nerve wracking reports coming back from some hikers.. But others with reassuring reports that things aren’t too crazy out there.. I guess it’s all really relative based on each hikers experience level and comfort at high altitude, on snow, and around heights/heightened risk factors. All we can do is be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. My plan (which Julian and Keglegs are super down for), is going to be quite challenging, but includes two different contingency plans and bail out points, just in case things get too gnarly out there.
All the weirdos come out at night...
Julian’s impressive packing with 8 days of food!!
This next section is definitely going to be the toughest section I’ve ever hiked. Much more snow than in 2016, and a lot longer of a stretch. However, I’m super excited and energized, (especially after this zero), and I have a good, strong little crew which I trust and can definitely depend on in some hairy situations. For now it’s just Julian, Keglegs and I, but who knows; we might find someone else headed out tomorrow that wants to join for the next stretch! Safety on numbers!
I’m honestly more concerned about some of the river crossings than most of the passes. The water levels change daily, and even DURING the day, so we won’t know until we get to them. But what we do know is we’ll take everything on in a smart and safe fashion!
I got to soak my feet in Epsom salt tonight, and it felt soooooo good! I was then able to cut all extra skin away from my old blisters, take care of my nails, and just overall give the old feet some TLC they deserve after walking 750 miles. I’m also getting new shoes in the mail tomorrow!!
Ahhhhhh
These feet have been through it all!! (Well, except icy traverses/snow chutes and daily freezing cold river crossing). Soon enough!!
Well, ending on a stinky foot-note, I think it’s waaaaaaay past my bedtime! The next blog won’t come out for at least another 8 days, if I have WiFi at all at Vermillion Valley Resort. By then I will have summired Mt. Whitney, conquered Forrester Pass, the highest point on the PCT, and about 6 other high passes over 12,000ft... wish me luck!
Thanks for reading!!
Sierras! Great job and stay safe.
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