Day 46
Start: McIver’s Cabin
Finish: Morris Peak
Daily Mileage: 12.2
PCT Mile: 657.2
Cookie Monster and I got an early start hitting the trail sometime before 5:30 to the light of our headlamps. We had 8 miles to Walker Pass where we could either hitch into town or take a bus. We decided to see if we could catch the first bus since it would be easy instead of a long hitch. If we didn’t make the bus, then we had plenty of time to hitch.
The trail was pretty easy, so we made great time hiking through the sunrise across some flat before starting a long downhill to the pass.
We made excellent time and actually got to the bus stop 30 minutes before we had targeted. There was some fruit there that we partook in while we waited with a couple other hikers.
A car picked up a hiker hitching in the other direction, and the driver handed us a box of cold pizza that he didn’t want. We ate most of it, but I wanted to save some room for hot food in town.
Our bus took us the hour or so to Lake Isabella and we grabbed brunch at a diner, resupplied, chilled at the bus stop, got mistaken for homeless people, had lunch 2 at Subway, and got an extra sub to pack out.
We were done with our minimal town chores well before the next bus ran back to the pass, so we were more than ready when it rolled up.
We only had to resupply for about 2.5 days to get to the next stop, but it is actually harder to resupply for the shorter stretches of trail, when packages of food come in quantities of 6, 8, or 10. Thus our food bags were both heaver than they needed to be and we were headed up to a dry camp. Obviously, leaving town means uphill most of the time, and this was no exception. We hiked up 1,500 feet with our town food.
The skies had looked a bit gray when we were headed back to the pass on the bus, and halfway up, it started to sprinkle. After it didn’t immediately stop, we donned our rain gear. Obviously, then the rain stopped as it does. I think this is only the second time I’ve had rain while I was hiking on this trail, and both times it was just some light sprinkles. One perk of a west coast trail.
The climb went well despite our heavy loads, and we got to a nice campsite. I stuffed myself with my sub and a salad. A mouse came out early to check things out, so hopefully we don’t have trouble tonight.
