Out
Muriel Lake to North Lake
Dang cold last night, so I got on the trail early as a matter of self-preservation. A mere one mile of trail and one hundred feet of elevation gain led to the top of Piute Pass and then down, down, down a well-built trail to the North Lake trailhead. The first people I met were Sean, Iris, Matt, and Chris who recognized the HST patch that Boone wears. We had a nice talk and then off they raced toward Four Gables Peak, their Sierra Challenge objective for the day. At the trailhead, I changed into my moderately clean camp shirt and headed down North Lake Road with my pre-printed “Bishop” sign. Two miles on, right at the stop sign that controls access to Hwy 168, I got a ride in the lead car of a group that had just completed a section hike of the JMT from Devil’s Postpile to Piute Creek. I tried to maintain my composure (successfully, I believe) as we bombed down the highway at a safe and sane 92 mph and discussed the merits of various hiking foods. I was totally velocitized — the fastest I had traveled in the preceding three weeks was about 5 mph, and that only during my frenzied dash out the tent door for my morning toilette each day. Yowza. Anyway, had I known how far it was to Bishop I would have been much more worried about hitching a ride — I am grateful for the kindness of strangers. I checked into my motel, cleaned up, and went for a burger and a beer at Mountain Rambler Brewery. I almost ordered another round of everything, but went back for my resupply package and some organizing for the morning ride on the Eastern Sierra Transit bus to Reno. While packing up, I listened to a cable music station on the television with a sweet display from a Hewlett-Packard spectrum analyzer from back in the day when they made really nifty stuff. Evening meal at La Casita where I overate — my body just overruled my mind: “it’s here, you don’t have to carry it or save it for tomorrow, so just pipe down and keep shoveling.” A couple Mammoth Brewing IPA 395s from Joseph’s BiRite (“Serving the High Sierra’s for the last 121 years” — it’s right there on the bag, possessive!). Night night. The end.
- Muriel Lake (in the distance)
- Summit Lake & Humphreys Basin
- Piute Lake & Piute Pass
- North Lake Road -- looking toward where I would much rather be...
- best cable tv station in Bishop, CA
- The End
Dennis
Anytime I hit a Sierra Col, the trekking poles collapse and get strapped to the pack, so I agree with you on that. Big talus and trekking poles are incompatible. 