Day 52: Back to Bishop

Miles: 7.5
Camping: Bishop hostel!

Because, at the time it was inconsequential, I failed to mention accidentally stepping in the river yesterday. I mention it now for good reason. When I woke up this morning and grabbed my shoes, the wet one was completely frozen! I was already cold, and didn't want to put on an ice shoe...so I sat on it while making breakfast. I'd had the forethought to sleep with my water bottle in my sleeping bag so my coffee wouldn't be ice cold (out of fuel), so at least that was going for me. The shoe thawed out enough to wear, but my poor toes took a while to catch up!

I'd dreamed of food all night. In particular there was part of the dream where I opened up a refrigerator to put beer inside, but it was full of cheeseburgers! The dilemma was that you had to eat them to make room for beer, but I didn't know who they belonged to. Darn food dreams! But, I'm on my way to town, and I can have both cheeseburgers and beer.

This is the first time I really didn't want to go to town, but I had no choice. I had to resupply, and it would be nice to do laundry. We had a short hike of 7.5 miles over Kearsarge Pass, which was absolutely beautiful. We passed many alpine lakes, and the trees were pretty spectacular. I ran into a couple of guys from the UK heading up the pass and they gave me some delicious homemade cookies. They reminded me of my grandma (the cookies, not the guys), and I felt as if I could skip the rest of the way down the mountain. My pack was lighter than it's ever been, as I was out of food and fuel...a reality I was all too aware of. I knew I'd have to hike back up the 2500 ft I was going down after resupplying, but for now I really appreciated the lightness.

Wisdom (Jules from back in San Diego) was on his way up too, and he told me to check in to site 14 at the trailhead campground. I did, and there was trail magic! A couple from last year had set up with all kinds of goodies: Beer, soda, pancakes, yogurt, HOT coffee with cream and peanut M&M's! I was in heaven, and she even offered to drive Pathfinder and I to Independence. There we picked up our packages and hitched into Bishop. It seemed to take a long time, but after about half an hour two nice guys about to go on a practice hike for the JMT stopped to pick us up. They were super nice and drove us right into town, thanks Kenny and Dwayne (sp?)!!

At the hostel I ran into Tink, Blisster,  Danger, Pockets and tons of new friends! It was nice to see everyone again, and we all went to the bowling alley for dinner; all you can eat spaghetti. The bowling alley actually has great food, and we had to wait for a table. I ate with Tink, Pathfinder and Pockets and we had a lively conversation over beer and pasta. We talked about all of the things you don't talk about at dinner (ie trail hygeine and bathroom stories). It was super fun to laugh about some of the less appealing sides of living on trail while eating dinner. I loved the time with the ladies, though we had so much fun with our dinner and conversation that we missed bowling with everyone else. I certainly didn't mind, as we stopped for ice cream on our way back to the hostel and settled in for a movie. It feels nice to be in town, in a bed, but I'm excited to go experience more of the Sierras!

Until tomorrow... goodnight!