We started the day with arranging our gear in the hostel room, and munching on some banana and yogurt for breakfast. We got out of there at around 8:00, and headed over to the bus station by the McDonald’s. The bus to Independence came exactly at 8:30, and we took it and got to the junction heading towards Onion Valley Campground. Next came the hard bit of hitching up the road to the campground, on a road with almost no traffic.

View back towards the Sierras, from the bus ride to Independence
View back towards the Sierras, from the bus ride to Independence

We tried hitching for a while, using a cardboard sign we made from a small pizza box. Crasher joined the hitching party, but he promised to remain at the back, so he won’t lower our chances of getting into a smaller car. He did give us a big “hiker to trail” sign he made out of his sleeping pad, which was a bit bigger than a pizza box. We kept on trying to gain some sympathy from the few cars passing by, but most of them were just parking nearby, or going into adjacent streets anyway.

Hitching back to Onion Valley Campground
Hitching back to Onion Valley Campground

At about 10:00 we finally got a break, when someone came along, and said he’d take us for $20 for gas plus $5 per person. As we were 4, it would have been $10 each. Idan came running from the nearby Subway, and managed to get him down to $30 total. Tracks came back from the post office, so now it was $6 each. A much more reasonable price for us.

We all loaded in the back of the car, which had no chair, and is probably used to transport animals. Idan won the front seat, and had to listen to conspiracy theories about Obama and weed and I don’t know what else, for the whole trip. He definitely took one for the team.

We got up to the campground and filled up some water at the spigot there, getting ready to start our hike all the way back up to Kearsarge Pass, and back to the PCT. We left by about 11:00, and I found the climb to be much easier than I had feared. It only took us about 2:30 hours to finish it. A bit less than hiking down it two days ago. We met many thru hikers coming down into town, including Sunbeam and Arctic. They were going in for a zero, but I’m sure they’ll catch us soon enough.

At the top of the pass we met two park rangers who were starting their first party patrol for this season. They were very nice. We were also debating if we should push on to do Glen Pass this afternoon, which might be a bit tricky because of the snow melt from the day’s sun, our stop before it (and have a really short day) and do the pass tomorrow, which might be a bit tricky because of snow freeze from the night’s cold.

We decided not to decide yet, and headed down into King’s Canyon National Park, and back towards the PCT. Just before joining the trail again, we came across the last water source before the pass/night’s campsite. This time we finally decided we’d go over the pass tomorrow morning, which left us with about 2.5 more miles for the day. It was only about 14:30…

Nice view from our campsite
Nice view from our campsite

We took our time, and slowly moved further into we got to the campsite at about 16:00, and made camp. The views here are nice, and the tent sites are well sheltered behind some trees. So it looks like a nice spot to camp.

A short while later another hiker came along. Hyrobics just started the day at Crabtree Meadows, and got over Forester today. She was trying to decide if she wants to stay here, or get over Glen today. She wants to get to VVR in 5 days… I told here we will never see her again, with her hiking rate. After several minutes she decided to press on. Very impressive. Or crazy.

We had our early dinners, and I have finally tasted a vegetarian Mountain House meal I bought in town (pasta primavera). It is a bit more tasty than my usual Knorr meals, bit it costs much more. I might just buy it occasionally.

My campsite for the night, several miles before Glenn Pass
My campsite for the night, several miles before Glenn Pass

After dinner, Yair and I sat on dinner rocks, watching the sun go down behind the cliffs in front of us, and listened to some music from my phone. Idan was nearby in his tent, bit he also enjoyed the music. It was a nice ending for a not so hard day of hiking.

I am now in my tent, laying on my new, regular length, neo air sleeping pad. My legs and feet definitely feel warmer than before. I think I like it. Good night.