Day 47 -49

 Day 47-49

Day 47 we got up to frosty sleeping bags and cold and damp. We had the short climb over Kearsarge pass and then all downhill to onion Valley and headed to the highway to hitch to Bishop 41 miles away . On the way down the pass we met lots of hikers we knew coming out of Bishop, back on to the trail, which was great to catch up with what I have been doing. 

Amazingly we got a hitch with the first car that left the car park down into the very small town of independence. And then after about 15 minutes waiting we got a great ride with a lady in the motorhome and just as we were about to leave Chevy and his brother Scott arrived and we all got a lift into Bishop together.

Bishop is a small town on the Valley floor back into the desert which is mainly focused on tourism and outdoors sports. We  immediately headed for the Mexican recommended restaurant for an early lunch and also  caught up with many hikers who are just arriving in town too. 

We had a few hours to spare before we could check into our hotel and did some of our gear shopping. There was an amazing shop called east side sports which sold every piece of gear imaginable for hiking and camping. I was able to get my straps for my poles repaired free of charge and replace some bits of gear that have been lost or broken. We then explored a few of the shops and it was time to check in.Our hostel was a really well run and very relaxed place to stay. It has great outdoor space and was really easy location for shops and restaurants.

We we’re planning a celebration for Canada Day so we picked up all the supplies we would need for our big pancake breakfast next morning. I finished today with a fantastic Japanese meal and then drinks at a nearby bar with the other Hiking friends.  It was a great way to get off trail and start our time off in town.

They 48

Canada day started with  great pancake cook up with fruit and real maple sera. We had about 10 or 12 hikers come around and I have pancakes with us which was great fun and took up most of the morning.

It was the time for the serious business of resupply and as we had nearly run out of food on the last section we were needing to carry more but in great danger of buying too much. We came out of the shops with Way too much food as expected and were horrified at the weight and how difficult it was to fit it into the back hands. In fact impossible.

In the evening we had a barbecue at the back of the hostel and everyone thought something to make perfect and to excellent day off or zero day and PCT speak.

Day 49

We had some things to mail from the post office so after our traditional breakfast of bagels eggs and avocado we had today we loaded to the post office. Within that Chevy and started to hitch back to trail. The first left was with a lovely lady who lived in the area and was a massive Formula One fan so we had lots to talk about. She dropped us at the most amazing homemade ice cream shop in the town of independence which meant we needed to stop for a lunchtime ice cream before the next hitch up to the trail head.

We got our lift from independence to the trail head from all the PCT Hiker who had lots of stories to tell about how he met his wife on the PCT and was doing a section of the trail over the holiday weekend. He had been at school in Australia as a young man so small world.

We then started to hike back up to 5 miles to get Sajjad pass with a short break for a swim have something to eat on the way home. We are now back on the PCT and have some amazing lakes and mountains and passes coming up tomorrow.