Day 53 - Back on the Trail

June 17, 2012

Day 53

Miles: 0 PCT miles (9 miles on Kearsarge Trail)

Total Miles: 770

Hitching out of Bishop

We hiked in on Kearsarge Trail today after getting a late start at 4 PM.  From Bishop we hitched in to the town of Independence and caught a ride with a father and his teenage son who were on their way to Los Angeles after a day of hiking.  Sid, Thresh and I piled into his van and we soon passed Banana Pants looking desperate for a ride.  The father graciously offered to stop and pick up B.P. as well and soon there were four of us in the van heading to Independence.  

Back on the trail after a quick pit-stop at Uber-Bitch's trail angel camp site, we made our way back over the pass and down a mile and a half to Charlotte Lake where we planned on camping for the night.  We encountered a little kink in our plan:  as Threshold and I stood and discussed bear canister strategy she loudly proclaimed "there is a bear RIGHT THERE!".  I turned around and sure enough, a large bear was sauntering not 30 feet from us in the trees, slowly making it's way through the trees and not making a sound (I would never have known he was there had Threshold not seen him).  It was getting dark but I could make out it's size - at least up to my waist standing on all four paws, but probably bigger.  

Siddhartha pulled out his camera and ran after in the direction the bear walked but was not able to find the bear and lost his chance to see his first bear of the hike.  I snapped a quick shot with my compact camera but in the dark the picture did not come out clear.  Immediately we decided to hike another half-mile down the lake and search for the bear box that was supposed to be available next to a ranger station.  We found the bear box and after eating we laid out bags down in a row and cowboy camped next to the lake.

Preparing to hit the trail at the Kearsarge Trailhead