Day 45 - Friday, June 11

At the Hostel California in Bishop, CA. Walked 1.4 miles today plus 7.1 miles to get over Kearsarge Pass.

When we woke up this morning, Frank's face was puffy to the point where she had trouble opening an eye. I gave her a benadryl but we don't know what caused it. Got rolling and did a very steep 1.4 mile section to the Bullfrog Lake trail junction. We have to take this trail over Kesrsarge Pass and out of the mountains to resupply. It's notoriously difficult and steep, but there aren't any better options.

The walk around Bullfrog Lake was very nice, but after that things got very steep and I put music on to help me over the pass.

Got to the top to find Bright Side and Jessica.

We chatted briefly before we were joined by a couple of runners who were using the pass to acclimate for an upcoming race (the pass is 11,700 feet in elevation). They gave us some food and would have given us a ride, but they'll be so much faster than us that they'll be gone by the time we get down .  We then started the descent down and hit a series of long switchbacks.

The descent took forever as it always seems to do when we're headed to town and wasn't helped by Jedi talking about all the amazing options at the bakery in town. We formed a train of 8 thru hikers and all the day hikers got out of our way even though they had the right of way going uphill. We got to the trailhead and just missed a ride into town (mine and Frank's fault as we were lollygagging while Jedi was on a ride finding mission). Photo credit: Jedi.

As a result, we had to wait an hour until Louise (and Charlie the dog), a true trail angel showed up and gave us a ride.  She was only going to give us a ride to Big Pine but on the way, she changed her mind and took us the extra 14 miles to Bishop.  She was such a nice lady and we enjoyed talking to her.  We got to the Hostel California and Louise gave us all hugs before departing. Photo credit: Jedi.

On the way down the mountain, we booked a private room and bath so we don't have to share a dorm with 9 others which is really nice. Frank and I went to the Family Dollar for some supplies and then we all showered and did laundry. Louise had told us about a really good barbeque place that had fantastic Mac and Cheese. We went there but it did not live up to the hype (it was still good though). We went across the street to the bakery which DID live up to AB and Jedi's hype. It was amazing! So many different types of bread and pastries!

I got a gelato and plan to come back tomorrow for more. We went back to the hostel and hung out for a bit before making another run to the Family Dollar.  We then went to dinner with The Borg at a Mexican restaurant. Photo: (clockwise from left: AB, Heather, Hot Pink, Jedi).

It was poor service and ok food. Jedi ended up serving the beer and Microbe ended up running everyone's credit cards.  We then then went to a brewery but first, Frank, Rambo, and I went to a bar and got drinks before going to hang out at the brewery. After that closed, we stopped at a saloon filled with locals before going back to the hostel and turning in WAY later than normal (about 11:30). Our normal bedtime is like 8:30 these days.