June 6

Kearsarge Pass side trail to town

After a few short miles to the trailhead, we are faced with another barrier, a 20 mile dead end road leading to the Owen’s Valley below.  

Luckily, a former PCT hiker who now runs an informational website for long distance hiking, is waiting at the trailhead with a large sprinter van.  He gives us, and 8 other hikers drinks, snacks, and a ride down to the town below.  The only thing in this town is a gas station with a deli, a small motel, and a Mexican food truck.  

We find out that this area is undergoing a heatwave.  Temperatures are 20 degrees above their normals.  It is over 100 degrees down here.   That explains the high temperatures we experienced in the mountains above.  

To get to a town with a grocery store, we have to catch a 40 mile bus ride to the town of Bishop, California.  After waiting for a few hours at the gas station deli, we catch our bus and arrive in Bishop in the late afternoon.  

We stop at the town’s famous bakery and retreat to our motel room- planning to do our town chores- food resupply and gear repairs- in the morning.

The motel has HBO, and we stay up just long enough to finish watching Dune 2.  It feels fitting, considering Dune’s most famous quote-

“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.”