Would you believe me if I said I had a most excellent night of sleep last night? I mean world class, solid, heavy, self-obliterated kind of sleep. I treated myself to 400 mg of ibuprofen before bed, something I almost never do out here (only once before on this trip have I taken any), because I’ve been dealing with stomach trouble the last year and I’d rather not irritate it. But an ankle tendon was perturbed enough to warrant it. I don’t know if it was the ibuprofen but that sleep was delicious. I finally broke one of themes of this leg of my journey. I didn’t even wake to reinflate my ground pad until it was about time to rise.
After stretching out, packing my near-weightless backpack now that I’ve eaten all the food, and setting off, I quickly made it over New Army Pass, down to the east side of the mountains past lakes and cliffs and drier, arid countryside. Past a lot of people as well, which bode well for a quick hitch out of the Cottonwood Lakes Trailhead and down into Lone Pine. By 11am, I had hiked the 9 miles and arrived eager to find a ride. Just as I was setting my pack down, a couple hikers came off the trail behind me. I asked if they were going to Lone Pine and might I get a ride, and they said they also were looking to hitch. I noticed they had ice axes strapped to their packs, which has become an emblem of high route trekkers in these mountains, and asked what they were hiking. Turns out they were also hiking the Southern Sierra High Route and I was a day behind them the whole time. They had a slow day yesterday and I must have passed them this morning. It was funny to discover that all those days when I felt I was the only human to be treading all these places, I wasn’t too far behind another pair of travelers. We compared notes about our experiences while waiting to hitch, and ended up securing a ride for all of three of us with a pair of hikers I chatted with on the trail earlier in the morning. The drive down from the trailhead to Lone Pine is exhilarating and terrifying, like a car easily just tip off the unguarded edge of the road and tumble several thousand feet down the mountain side to the valley floor below. Thankfully we didn’t. I was dropped off at the hostel in town and bade them all a fond farewell.
Then on to the tasks of town: shower, laundry, post office for my package of food, a bacon cheeseburger, and of course posting to the blog. I’ll take a rest day here tomorrow, for I have more bacon cheeseburgers to eat. Those things aren’t going to eat themselves.
Trying a new way to put my pack on.
Leave a Reply