Day 63 – June 19th – Mammoth Lakes, CA

Bucket here – It’s been 9 days since we’ve had internet or cell service, so Sage and I had the opportunity to take a 3.7 mile side trail off the PCT to Horseshoe Lake, where the city of Mammoth Lakes offers free trolley rides into town.  Joy was able to get us a room at a hotel as well.  So this is one of those rare instances that Sage and I are going to be able to get showers within 4 days!  The shower at VVR was $7.00 for an 8 minute shower.  So you fed a token into a slot box, the water came on, and you scrubbed as fast as you could until your 8 minutes were up (lol).  The shower at the hotel tonight should be a real one!

Since we got back on the trail at Kearsarge Pass, Sage and I have been climbing basically a Pass per day.  We climbed Glen Pass the same day as Kearsarge Pass.  We have also climbed Pinchot Pass, Mather Pass, Muir Pass,  Selden Pass and Silver Pass.  So spending a lot of time in the 10,000 -12,000 ft range.  There has been a heat wave hitting California this past week, but not a real problem for us up in the mountains.  It’s noticeably warmer and more humid, but not a real problem.

We passed the 900 mile mark yesterday evening.  We hope if we can stay closer to trail for resupplies in the future, we can tick off these 100 mile increments at a faster pace.  We’ve spent nearly a 100 miles in recent weeks that were not PCT miles to get resupplies, climb Mt. Whitney , etc.  

I think we’ve gotten used to the thinner air at higher altitudes now.  Initially it felt like we were gasping for air that didn’t exist (lol).  But it feels a bit easier now.

We are required to carry bear canisters for our food right now.  We rented these in Kennedy Meadows, and we need to carry them until Kennedy Meadows North (mile 1016.9).  They are big, bulky, and weigh several pounds.  So we are looking forward to getting rid of these canisters soon – possibly within the next week.

The mosquitoes are now out in full force as well!  We wear head nets when they get real bad.  As long as you are moving they are not a problem.  It’s when you stop that they begin to swarm.  But it’s all part of the experience…..

One last item is a shoutout to a hiker we have been hiking with the past several weeks named “Sundown”.  We first met Sundown in Tehachapi, and we’ve been hiking at the same pace and seeing each other daily since then.  We actually got rides in and out of Bishop, CA (Kearsarge Pass) together.  We saw Sundown on the trail a few days past and he had his knee wrapped up.  He was in a lot of pain.  He ended up hiking until 11:00 pm that night to Muir Ranch to get off the trail.  We contacted him today and he had a torn meniscus and blood clot in his knee and expects surgery.  So he thinks his hike is over for this year.  This is a real shame, but can happen to any of us.  So we’ll miss you on the trail, Sundown.  Best wishes for a full recovery.

So that’s it for now.  Sage and I hope to be back on the trail tomorrow and keep moving north.  We’ve downloaded more pictures and we appreciate everyone who is following our journey!