Again, the vividness and tangibility of my dreams is surprising me. Where are such (sometimes ghastly) visions coming from? One thing to say about strong dreams is this: at least you know you are sleeping deeply.
It’s staying dark longer than it was at the beginning of my trip, and I’m waking up in semi-darkness. In that soft, quiet time I did my morning meditation, and broke camp by 6:45. I had some uphill climbing to do, all headed east to make it over Kearsarge Pass, which crosses the Sierra Crest and offers a route into or, in my case, out of the mountains and down to Owens Valley. It was fast, and I was at the trailhead by 11am. This despite stopping to chat with several of the many hikers coming up the trail.
I was excited for town. I was hungry and looking forward to food not in bar form. The first group to come out of the trailhead, four guys who had spent five days climbing and fishing out of the Kearsarge Lakes area just west of the pass, gave me a ride down another one of those winding roads out of the mountains to the valley below. I only had to wait about fifteen minutes, and have been pleased with my good fortune on the hitches so far on this trip. They dropped me at the post office in Independence, where my resupply boxes had just apparently arrived that morning (so said the post master). I got a room in a small, local motel and had the best shower anyone has ever taken in the history of the world and did the best laundry anyone has ever done in the history of the world. The town of Independence has almost nothing in it: two oddly-stocked convenience stores, a strange co-op with mostly empty shelves, and a taco truck. And somehow, all these things are spread out a quarter mile from one another. I had two meals at the taco truck, which turned out to be a lot of walking on the highway. The tacos are quite good though.
I’m taking a rest day here tomorrow, to prepare for the final leg of my trip. I have one more nine day section to Road’s End, where I finish my hike. Originally I had planned for a fifty day journey, but I’ve been faster than I anticipated and it looks like it will take right around forty days to complete. My plane ticket home is bought, so the end date is firm. I should come out of the mountains on the 16th and fly home on the 17th.
I do want to say that I’ve been touched and honored by the comments and emails I’ve received, so thank you for your communications. It is, of course, nice to know that someone is listening.
Looking south from the morning’s climb.
Lovely morning tarn
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