Wednesday July 29, 5.9mi/9.5km
Horse Creek Pass (189.1/10,680ft) to Twin Lakes Trailhead (195.0/7160ft) (CA)
I left camp at 6am, figuring it would take me over 3 hours to get to the Trailhead and finish. Within 5 minutes I had to put on microspikes to traverse a long snowfield.
Snow walking is fun and easy, but it soon ended and I continued down the canyon on easy shale rocks.
The sun was rising higher, but I was in the shade all morning, it’s a deep canyon.
A thousand feet down from the pass, and I saw trees!
After this point, I was able to follow a light use trail.
Once I got down to 8000ft, I passed a string of Beaver ponds. Apparently they were introduced to the eastern Sierra.
And where there’s water, there’s thick undergrowth. I was happy to have a good trail to follow.
More Beaver ponds!
A mile before I left the woods, I saw the back of this sign. Apparently I had been in the Hoover Wilderness.
I could see Mono Resort in the distance, it’s an RV campground at the head of the lake.
And just like that, the hike was done and I was back in civilization.
I spent about 45 minutes trying to hitchhike pickup trucks, but had no luck. So I started walking the 13 miles down to Bridgeport, where I would get a bus at 4pm. After a mile of walking, a trail runner I saw this morning stopped and gave me a ride! It was fun to be in the back of a pickup truck, and I had my own fresh air. 15 minutes later, I was in the tiny town of Bridgeport.
The most important tasks came first.
And then first lunch was a chicken burger, fries, lemonade tea, and milkshake.
Second lunch was at 2pm, with a burrito, pizza, and watermelon. I felt kinda ill after that so I didn’t get a photo. I ride the empty bus to Lone Pine, about 2.5 hours south.
I grabbed dinner at the Whitney Diner, and while I was looking at the menu, a server asked me if I liked salmon. Of course, it’s a food group! He had made one by accident, and I could have it for half price!
After that deliciousness, I was ready for food shopping. It’s a tiny grocery mart, but had 90% of what I usually buy, and I improvised the tortillas and Nutella.
I walked back to the hotel room, showered, and fell asleep to Archer reruns. Perfect day!