Days 51-52 - Zero in Bishop

June 15-16, 2012

Days 51-52

Miles: 0

Total Miles: 790

Siddhartha, Threshold and Highlife enjoying a zero day

We finished out hike out over Kearsarge Pass today, from the Kearsarge Lake campsite to the trail head  where a parking lot beckoned us from below with trail magic - through word of mouth passed along from hikers coming back up the trail from town.  I almost ran down the last two miles of trail with visions of soda and brownies and fruit in my nutrition-starved head!

When I got to the trail-head and parking lot, I made my way to the neighboring campsites and found what I was looking for - Uber-Bitch had a table with cookies and M&M's and fruit and she offered a beer as well!  After relaxing and eating half of her bowl of M&M's we thanked her profusely and got a ride down into Independence from Sleeping Bear - another trail angel running hikers back and forth to town from the trail.  We hitched from Independence - a small one-street town - to the town of Bishop 50 miles away and booked a room at the Motel 6.  Threshold, Siddhartha and I shared a room and we proceeded to shower and launder our clothes.  What a feeling a hot shower is after seven days on the trail!

The next couple of days were spent eating and drinking - at the Whiskey Creek restaurant where we had steak and asparagus and at the famous Schat's Bakery where I enjoyed breakfast and coffee and pastries, and then back to Whiskey Creek the next day for happy hour, and then back to Schat's the next morning for another breakfast!  I did actually get a few things accomplished besides filling my belly with food and beer.  At the local outfitter, Wilsons, I replaced my gaiters with a pair of Mountain Hardware gaiters and purchased a new ultra-light wool blue long-sleeve shirt to replace my synthetic shirt which was at the end of it's dirty life.

Siddhartha at Motel 6

Finally - a proper steak dinner