Day 60 : Kearsarge Revisited

18th June 2013
Mile 789 to mile 791 : Bullfrog Lake to Glen Pass
Mileage : 3 + 8

Today's mileage was not particularly impressive, but that is mostly due to the fact that we got a late start. Our personal trail angel Aloha ferried us all back to the Onion Valley trail-head over the course of several hours, and as I was in the last trip with Mr Green and Dishcloth, we didn't get hiking until the middle of the afternoon. The climb up to Kearsarge pass was completed pretty quickly, but after that the town effects started to hit me. Mr Green had long disappeared along the trail with the intention of getting over Glen Pass before nightfall, Dishcloth and I however were not hiking at his pace and stopped just short of the pass just as the sun was setting below the mountains. The hike down from Kearsarge Pass back to the trail was even more stunning than the hike up from Bullfrong lake. This hike took us along a side trail overlooking the Bullfrog lake, and the late afternoon light made for some impressive views. After many photo breaks, we reached the bottom of the pass, we probably could have gotten up it before night fell, but the temperature drops extremely rapidly at altitude when the sun sets, and neither of us fancied descending snow fields on the other side of the pass in the failing light, so we parked up at a small lake 1000ft below the pass and set about doing the evening routine. Although we have bear canisters, the food for a 7 day stretch just does not fit in, so we decided against cooking lest it bring an inquisitive bear into camp looking for a meal. The lack of a hot meal means i go to sleep that little bit colder, so i decided to go to bed with all my warm kit on to keep warm. It was a very good decision.

Looking down toward Bullfrog lake where we camped before coming out over Kearsarge pass several days before