July 2, 2017
Mono Hot Springs Campground to VVR
Pacific Crest Trail Thru-Hike: Day 59
Wow, we made it here. We arrived to see Trail Name in the cafe, waiting for a ride to Fresno, his girlfriend taking him to Tahoe and arriving in Mammoth on the 6th. We’re hot on the heels of our trail family, who we thought would be many days ahead of us by now.
We will likely be on trail for the 4th of July, we have a pass and many miles (30-ish) before Reds Meadow where we get into Mammoth.
Trail Name talked about the others ‘Chickening Out’ about doing Bear Creek and turns out that most of our trail family took the alternate, too! Trail Name told us that while everyone else chickened out, he, Tofu, Vice and Boathouse crossed Bear Creek. They crossed on a log/fallen tree, which makes me that much more confident in my decision not to do it. If you can’t cross in the water, you can’t cross. Wet feet are safe feet.
I met other hikers here at VVR who were tweaked about White Fork, and a couple people who crossed the snow bridge and said it was really sketchy. To the tune of Celebration: Vaaa-li-daaa-tion!
We were going to stay 2 zero days here, but I’m antsy and everything here is SO EXPENSIVE—we spent $160 in one day by having a six pack, doing laundry, and eating a single shared meal. Our tab is closed now and we’re leaving tomorrow morning, packing out 3 beers to celebrate the 4th of July wherever we end up.
I think we learned our lesson today with spending money at cafes: the ones near the trail never have good food, and they cost boatloads of money. We need to be satisfied with a beer, not a whole frigging meal. Tomorrow, I’d love to get over Gooddale Pass; again, I’m feeling very antsy to get to Mammoth. Probably unrightfully so because in part I want to see our family again.
Good things for today? The VVR employee Jordan let me use her hairbrush even though it took literally 2 hours to brush out my hair. We dropped a bunch of pack weight and mailed it to South Lake Tahoe, so all our food except meals actually fits in the bear cans! We’re leaving tomorrow morning and packing out three beers for the 4th of July.