Pacific Crest Trail: Mile 788 to 831

Rae Lakes near Glenn Pass

Section H

Bishop Pass to Onion Valley – Sobo

Miles: 43 on the PCT (a total of 63 miles getting on at Bishop Pass and off at Kearsarge Pass)

Hiking with: Chris, William & Lizzie (my kids). Bill (friend) & his son John.

Lodging: Independence Inn, Independence, CA.

Shuttle: East Side Sierra Shuttle

Dining: Still Life Cafe & Jenny's Cafe

Elevation Profile of PCT Portion of Hike

Start: South Lake, Bishop, CA.

End: Onion Valley (just West of Independence, CA)

PCT hiker in a rainbow tutu

People along the trail: We saw a lot of Northbound PCT hikers -- probably 6-10 per day. We also found out about Naked Hiking Day (the same day as the summer solstice). As my daughter said: "the good looking people keep their clothes on." We also met a couple of characters (see photo right) hiking the PCT and a group of summer trail workers. We also me forest ranger Zussman who was very pleasant and asked to see our wilderness permit -- he signed it and gave it back to us. We also met a JMT hiker that showed us pictures of extremely large Bear poop about 200' up trail from our campsite...as we hiked by it the next morning we discovered it was horse poop (we decided the JMT hiker didn't know shit).

Description: We drove from Phoenix to Independence, CA & checked into the Independence Inn (tripadvisor.com review) -- a very clean roadside hotel. The owner kept some of our extra food, toiletries & electronics that we didn't want to leave in the car at the trailhead. That evening we ate at the Still Life Cafe (tripadvisor.com review) -- which had fantastic food with a pleasant atmosphere.

Loading up with East Sierra Shuttle.

DAY 1 (Bishop Pass) -- The next morning we got a late start as one of our hikers had a conference call until 11 am. The East Side Sierra Shuttle was a Mercedes Benz station wagon with a trailer for our backpacks. The car barely made it to the trailhead without overheating -- however -- we had a full load of people and a full trailer with backpacks. I think under lighter circumstances the Mercedes would have performed great. I can't complain as it did get us to the trailhead without stopping. The driver was very pleasant and a great host. I'll be using him again on my fall hike.

Me, Liz, William & Chris at South Lake Trailhead

We got to the trailhead about 1:30 and started hiking at 2 pm. This is a great trail up to Bishop Pass skirting around several beautiful lakes. We had to climb around snow once on the way up and close to the top we had to post hole it to the pass (perhaps 100 yards). We continued down into Dusy Basin about 1 mile and set up camp. The kids did great and were blown away with the scenery.

Grouse Meadow along PCT

DAY 2 -- We slept in a little and got on the trail about 8:30 am. The hike down to Le Conte Canyon was spectacular going around mountain lakes and finally parallelling a series of waterfalls the last 1,500 vertical feet. We were going to camp at the base of the "Golden Staircase" but there was a wacky guy camping telling us to look at a website about Jesus....we hiked on. The next campsite was already taken by 3 guys who looked like they had no interest in sharing their space. By this time we're on ascending the "Golden Staircase" and there are very few flat places to camp. About 1/2 mile further up the trail we found a great spot on some moderately flat rocks next to the stream and set up camp.

Chris at Palisades Lakes.

Day 3 (Mather Pass) -- We decided to get up early -- 4:30 which go us on the trail by 5:30ish. This was a miracle with 4 teenagers but no one complained!!! Palisades Lakes would have been a nice place to camp but I think the mosquitoes would have been much worse -- but it sure was pretty. There were a couple patches of snow going up Mather Pass but nothing dangerous. We ended up stopping at a great campsite next to a creek -- it was cold but most of us bathed and enjoyed the relaxation.

Crossing Rivers was frequent on Day 4.

Day 4 (Pinchot Pass) -- Once again we were up at 4:30 and on the trail by 5:30ish. We had a number of stream crossings and one of our hikers slipped and fell in about 6 am. He only got wet up to his thighs. We lost his sun glasses but someone else had a spare pair for him. We had him walk to warm up. After about 20 minutes we had him take his thin hiking socks off and put on some thick wool socks to warm his feet up and suck more of the moisture out of his shoes. By this time he had warmed up except his feet. In another 45 minutes we had him put on a dry pair of his thin hiking socks and he was fine. We then cleared Pinchot Pass and headed down to where the PCT crossed Wood Creek (creek....try river!!!). There was a suspension bridge crossing Wood Creek -- only 1 person at a time. We crossed and set up camp next to the river.

Rae Lakes

Day 5 (Glenn Pass) -- This was to be our longest day...15 miles. We were on the trail by 5:30. We thought Glenn Pass would be the easiest pass but it was the hardest. It had more snow and a lot of detours around snow patches. But it was no match for our tuff group. We exited the PCT by taking the lower trail to Kearsarge Lakes and camped there. This is one of my favorite spots.

All cleaned up and ordering breakfast at Jenny's Cafe.

Day 6 (Kearsarge Pass) -- Everyone was excited to get off the trail, get showered and eat real food. Once again we were on the trail by 5:30 and finished at the trailhead by 8:30. We drove back to the Independence Inn and took turns taking a shower and picked up our extra food, toiletries & electronics the hotel owner kept for us while we hiked. The showers cost us $25 (for 6 people I thought that was a great deal). Then we ate lunch at Jenny's Cafe. I know we just got off the trail but the breakfast was REALLY GOOD -- the sausage was fantastic. Everyone was now clean and well fed -- off to Las Vegas to pick up our wives and then to the Shakespeare Festival for some culture in Cedar City, UT!!!