Day 69: hike up onion valley

Earwig, Righteous, and I got a ride back into bishop from Ian. We all crammed into his tiny ass Toyota Yaris with no gas and all of our gear. It was kind of funny. When we got back to Bishop we discovered all cell providers were down because of some accident in Mammoth. I couldn't make any calls before we hit the trail. It was also super hot.

We ate at Carl's Jr. and then headed south to Independence to get back on the Onion Valley trail. The road up was indeed closed because of flooding. He dropped us off and we started the dreaded 7 mile road walk up to the Kearsarge Trail head. Righteous was waiting on his friend Blue to meet us up to hike for the night.

Riding in the back of a pickup with a doggy (that you can't see) 

After 1/4 mile walk two CalTrans workers told us to jump in their truck! They took us all the way up. righteous didn't go though because he didn't want to leave his friend. Earwig and I chilled at the trail head and waited for them for a couple hours. When they arrived we ascended up to Flower lake just below the pass and chilled for the night.

Earwig started fishing and I started relaxing. The rest of the Lazy Fuck crew (all 18 of us) slowly started showing up into camp. It was good to see everyone again. Tomorrow we begin full days of hiking north.

Ten Gallon reading on the lake  

Flower lake reflections  

Day 68: camping at Sabrina Lake

Jessica drove me and the dudes up to Sabrina lake. We decided to stay here for a night and await updates on the flood conditions. This will allow us to save money. Righteous and his friend Ian were able to convince the camp host to let us cram in one of the sites.

It is always so terrible saying goodbye to a Jessica and family. It's just really hard to do that and then transition into the trail. I was so close to just quitting and jumping in her car back to LA. While we were in town Mowgly made a hard decision and decided to quit the trail for personal reasons. It was disappointing but I understand. Everyone has to hike their own hike. Jessica told me I need to press on and keep hiking. We said emotional goodbyes and her and Mowgly took off.

saying goodbye is the worst thing about the trail

At the lake Ian and Earwig pulled a couple fatty trout out of the water. We cooked them over a fire at camp and drank whiskey. It was delicious. But all I could think about was how much I didn't want to hike this next section.

Sabrina Lake  

Ian the Angler  

Day 65-67: zero in Bishop

Drinking, laundry, and hanging with my parents and Jessica! Just a whole lot of laying around and trying to avoid the nasty heat wave in Bishop. Word on the street is that Onion Valley road is closed because of excessive flooding from the snowmelt above Kearsarge Pass. 

Scotty, Jessica, and I decided to drive to Wild Willy's Hot Springs to take a dip.