Sunday September 29 & Monday September 30, 0mi/0km

After lunch, Cougar and I went to the airport, and I picked up a rental car and drove towards Lone Pine CA. I stopped and bought groceries for the hike, and water. Lots of water!

I had a quick dinner at In-N-Out burger, then continued south into the Eastern Sierra.

I stopped at trailhead a little ways off the highway to camp, and the next morning I drove the rest of the way to Lone Pine.

I stopped for a quick breakfast to go, and continued down into Death Valley National Park, to cache my water.

I placed water in three locations, since there are so few natural water sources on the hiking route. The third location was a little more difficult to access, as it was 12 miles down an eroded dirt road.

After the final water cache, I drove back to Lone Pine, and dropped some stuff off at the hostel I’m staying at. Then, I had to drive an hour north, back up to Bishop, to return the rental car. Along the way, I saw a PCT hiker trying to get a ride, and I picked him up and brought him to bishop. “PH-B” was his trail name, since he has a doctorate degree in bees. He was fun to talk to and didn’t even smell that bad!

I dropped off the rental car, and then hitched back to Lone Pine. My ride was two other hikers “going to death valley”. As I loaded my backpack into the trunk, I saw their gear, and realized they are former thru-hikers as well. Turns out, they are doing the L2H route as well, starting a day after me! What an incredible coincidence – only like ten people per year do this route. We arrived to Lone Pine, and I had dinner and then got organized in the hostel bunkroom. Tomorrow, I start the hike!