July 23, 2016

I awoke with a start as the sun crested the horizon just enough to hit my face. It was later than I had planned on being up and much lighter out than I would have liked. Looking around I realized I was much closer to the surrounding houses than it had seemed the night before. The jurisdiction of the land I had slept on was also more questionable.

Campsite

I packed up as quickly and quietly as I could keeping a low profile in the short vegetation. A few quick strides and I was safely on the road leading back down to the gas station. Feeling it was a little early to start hitching I hung out at the gas station to charge devices and grab breakfast. They had a surprisingly robust kitchen and the food was pretty good.

Once I had finished eating I went outside to begin the hitch down to Lone Pine. On my way over to the road I was approached by a man in his early 20's looking a little rough around the edges. He asked me if I was hiking and we began talking about backpacking. A few minutes into the conversation he began telling me about the rough night he had had with his girlfriend. They had spent the last six months living on a commune together and were traveling to a different farm to work. She had gotten very drunk and a fight had started about nothing that escalated into her taking the car and leaving him on the side of the road. He had followed the car, taken back the wheel, and gotten them to the gas station parking lot for the night.

He was very lost about what to do. She still was not talking to him in the morning. We spent a while talking about the relationship and situation and by the end he felt much better about the whole thing. I mention this because it was one of those moments that would likely not have happened off-trail. He needed someone to talk to and I happened to be there and receptive to engaging with a stranger on a level that just doesn't happen off the trail.

We said our goodbyes and I headed down to the road with my cardboard sign. I got very lucky and was standing there for barely a minute before an SUV stopped for me. It was two guys headed down to Mammoth to meet up with a larger group for a weekend backpacking trip. I hopped in and we spent the rest of the ride talking about gear. The first leg of the journey was complete.

Mammoth is primarily a ski town but they make out pretty well with mountain bikers and family camping during the summer. I was sure it would be another easy hitch out so I decided to hang out for a bit before hitting the road again. I headed right for the brewery and got a flight of their standard draught beers and a pulled pork sandwich. I spent some time catching up on emails and phone calls with family.

Mammoth Brewery

It turns out that people vacationing at an expensive ski town are not particularly receptive to picking up hitch hikers. It was an hour and a half before someone stopped for me. The woman who stopped had grown up in Mammoth before it became such a destination and the increased cost of living had moved her 10 miles south on 395. It wasn't much but it sure beat standing around in Mammoth any longer.

I had assumed that she would be dropping me off at her exit. There was no exit, just a small road directly off of the highway. It was hot and sunny, there was no shade, and I was now a creepy hitchhiker in the middle of nowhere. Still better than waiting it out in Mammoth though, or so I kept telling myself. 395 was not very busy in this section and to make matters worse I had apparently been dropped off right where the state police like to set up speed traps. No one was going to stop for a hitch hiker with the police sitting right there in the median.

Fortunately two aspiring mountain bikers stopped for me and got me as far as Bishop. It was getting late in the day at this point and I thought I might have to crash at one of the hostels in Bishop and continue the next day but decided to give hitching a shot. About 20 minutes in a guy named Sky stopped for me and took me the rest of the way to Lone Pine. He turned out to be an awesome guy who had seen and done it all in his 20's before cleaning up and settling down to be a great father to two girls. It's always reassuring meeting people like him who validate that it is possible to travel extensively in your 20's without blowing the rest of your life.

I stopped by Elevation, one of the outfitters in town, to plan out my next few days. One of the couples in line at the Yosemite permit office had suggested a route but I wanted to validate that on a map. Having confirmed the section I headed to the Whitney Portal Hostel and Hotel to check in. The only people in the bunk room when I arrived were David, Jennifer "Honey Badger," and Jade "Morning Star," three hikers fresh off the JMT.

We headed across the street to the pizza place for dinner where we were served by none other than Samuel Brooks, the employee of the month. Post dinner we headed over to the grocery store to grab some beer. David and I went to grab the beer while the girls picked up some snacks. Apparently the beer section is quite difficult to find because we were paged over the intercom by our trail names - first time that, and likely last time, that has ever happened to me. We checked out and headed back to the bunk room to hang out with the rest of the hikers.