Day 47 – Monday, July 10

PCT Mile 782.5 to PCT Mile 788 (plus 7.5 miles over Kearsarge Pass to Onion Valley Trailhead to Bishop, Calif.)

Day Total: 15.5 Miles

It was beautiful and very chilly when we awoke on a rock island surrounded by snow this morning. We'd made it just low enough to camp among small trees, a beautiful spot looking out on Kings Canyon National Park.

We had a little bit of trouble following the trail in the morning because of the snow but before long the trail was clear.

We followed a creek for a while before coming to a crossing. The creek was raging and I didn't feel good about walking through. We found a log a little upstream of the trail crossing and carefully scurried across. It was scary.

After Stephen and I made it across we sat for a while and ate a second breakfast while our heartrates went back down to normal.

We chatted with a dad and son from coastal Georgia who were out for five days of backpacking. They were having a hard time with the elevation, which is understandable. I realized we're pretty lucky for having lived at 6,000 feet for much of the last year and for being in pretty good shape.

We took a a long side trail over Kearsarge Pass down to trail head where we hitched into Bishop.

Because the PCT doesn't cross a road for 200 miles through the Sierras, if you need to resupply it means extra miles. Kearsarge Pass was beautiful, but there were dark clouds so we didn't dawdle. We hustled over the pass, and slid on some snow on the way down.

Then it was seemingly endless switchbacks down to the Trailhead. Stephen said it felt like we were being flushed down a toilet.

We got a ride from the nicest woman and her son who enjoy meeting PCT hikers. They have hiked numerous sections of the trail all the way from Campo to Yosemite and have stories about hikers they've met. They were incredibly generous and drove us all the way to Bishop, more than an hour from the Trailhead. Thank you Jody and Sam!

Stephen and I ate some delicious Italian food and got a room at the Bishop Thunderbird motel. Tomorrow we have a lot of errands to do, including new shoes for both of us.

(Editor's Note: Photos on this page were incorrectly used with the Day 46 post. Click back one day to see the correct photos for Day 46.)