Back to the trail today…the afternoon bus from Bishop to Independence was packed with hikers and their gear. Once back in Independence we had the challenge of getting a hitch back up to the trailhead 15 miles away. It took us a while, but eventually a nice elementary school teacher hauled us and two others up there. It was cool to drive it in reverse this time. We’ve been staring at the mountains all weekend – suddenly in a matter of minutes we were in them again. The hike back was uphill all the way to Kearsarge pass but it wasn’t bad even with a full pack. Good trail. As we got near the top the wind picked up and hikers coming the other way warned us about it. It wasn’t as strong as the stuff we faced before Mojave but it was a lot colder.

After reaching the pass we started down the other side, taking the Onion Valley trail back to the PCT instead of the Bullfrog Lakes trail. Made it most of the way back before we found a nice campsite in the dusk, out of the wind and overlooking the lakes we passed last Friday. The sunset painted the cliffs, water, and clouds bright pink. We’re sad as always to leave the luxuries of civilization, but thrilled to be back on the trail. We go over Glen Pass tomorrow.

– Posted from the PCT

Location:Pct mile 788