Crushing Kearsarge

Note: Because we’re crossing through the High Sierras now, there is hardly any cellphone coverage. Therefore entries may be delayed for several days.

Even though we hadn’t made an official plan yet, I had a gut feeling we would not be heading out back on the trail until late afternoon. After waking up I met with Jukebox and Pops in a coffee-place nearby, and we got some breakfast. Then it was time to start preparing for the next stretch. I’m bringing seven days worth of food, to get into Mammoth Lakes 120 miles away. There is one earlier resupply option (Vermillion Valley Resort, or VVR), but this requires you to take a ferry across a lake, which only runs twice a day. Preferably I would not have to depend on that. This will be my biggest food-carry yet. Because Bear-activity is a serious issue in the area of the Sierras, all food must be stored in either a bear-canister, or a bear-vault (big bear-proof cabinets with locks on it, scattered throughout the national parks and campsites throughout the wild). Because 7 days of food does not all fit into my bear-can, this means that for probably the first 3 nights I’ll have to camp at campsites which have a bear-box. The alternative is to hang my extra food from a tree…

I tried to look for a new mp3 player in the shops, but to no avail. Instead I just downloaded offline playlists to my phone, which will have to make due until Mammoth. Around 1630 we were all pretty much ready, and we went back to get coffee one last time, grabbing a quick fix of caffeine for the road. While in line at the counter, we got to chat with a local woman about our hike, and 15 minutes later when we all were standing outside, ready to hitch out, the same woman drove past in her car. She opened up her window and gave us 20 dollars ”for your next dinner”, she called just before she drove away. So cool! We got a ride from another local woman, who was part of a tribe of natives in the area, and while we were driving up to the trail-head she told us about their ways, history and reserves; very interesting.
A little before 1800 we started the dreaded climb up Kearsarge Pass. The full pack was heavy, but re-energized from eating lots of town-food, we got a steady pace going.

It would be a 4.5 miles to the top, and after about an hour and a half we got up to a lake with some campsites. I was surprised at how well my legs were holding up, and since we still had a couple of hours of daylight left, I kinda wanted to push up and over the summit. Photo-Op agreed, so the two of us left Jukebox and Pops, and kept going. The second part of the ascent we really kicked it up a notch. And crushed it. We quickly found a very fast stride and were booking uphill. Within the next hour we’d made it to the top of Kearsarge (the pass so nice, we did it twice).
Alright, so we’re at the summit. What to do next? The sun was setting and we had to figure out a sleeping situation. In the vicinity there were no bear-boxes, although many hikers said it unlikely for bears to come to this altitude. I talked to a group of section hikers who were headed to Charlotte Lake, where they knew there’d actually be a box. I checked my maps and saw that the trail there would take me back to the PCT, a little ways along it and then a mile off it again. It would mean another hour and half of hiking. That I could manage. Photo-Op wanted to hang out at the pass some more to take photo’s, and make up his mind about his own strategy. I followed the other hikers, and ended up hiking almost an hour in the dark. When I arrived near the lake, I had trouble finding the bear-box. Fortunately there were other people camped nearby. If any of the other campers were awake, I’m sure they must have seen me walking past their sites a couple of times, avidly shining my headlamp around. After looking around for quite some time, I decided to just ask about the bear-box. It felt a bit weird to, in the pitch-black in the wild, call out to a tent asking about the bear-box. I just hoped I wasn’t scaring anybody. A friendly guy answered, and explained to me exactly where I could find the box! 30 minutes later all my food was stored in safe places and I was happily in my tent.