Woke up around 5am and got moving pretty quick. I was planning on doing coffee on Forester Pass so I was a bit sluggish over the five miles to the top. I was also in a bit of a grumpy mood because of it. Forrester Pass is the highest point the PCT reaches, 13,119 feet.

On the way up Forrester Pass there is a memorial marker for a 19 year old guy who died during construction of the trail there in 1930. I would put money on the fact that the marker had been moved. In 1996 I remember going off the trail a bit to go to the bathroom or something, and seeing a little plaque kind of hidden. Now, the plaque is in prominent view at the switchback on the trail. It didn't look to have been moved, but I totally don't remember it being where it was.

The ice chute on Forrester Pass was not bad at all. There is this snow chute that crosses the trail and goes a long way down. If you slip and fall you are going for a long ride. There were steps cut in it and I made it across ok.

I reached the top and took a few photos, then made coffee. My whole mood changed to the positive. Well, it got negative again all of the sudden when I realized I needed to go to the bathroom. Mt. Whitney all over again! Unfortunately I didn't have any extra garbage bags. It didn't look like it was going to rain anytime soon so I stole the bag that the clock cardboard was in. After a quick scan of both sides off the pass to make sure the coast was clear I did my business right there at the highest point on the PCT. Keep in mind that this was not one of my PCT goals when setting out in April.

I sealed the bags with the last of my duct tape and started packing up to leave. Just then, around the corner comes Runs with Elk. Whew, good thing she wasn't there five minutes earlier! I told her about the ranger and the Spot signal issue, and that she scored points with the ranger for packing out trash.

I continued down the pass and it was like a whole new hike. Rivers and creeks everywhere, big vistas, marmots, etc.

At one point I felt something flopping around off my pack and I thought I had literally lost my shit, but it was just my camelback water bag. Since I was by myself I had nobody to make this joke too...hence I'm forcing you to read it now for your enjoyment.

After a long descent the trail started to climb again. Resupplying in the Sierras is a bit difficult in that the places to resupply are a bit off the PCT. I was going to resupply in the town of Independence which is about a 7.5 mile 3000 foot climb off the PCT, then a 15 mile hitchhike.

I reached the Kearsarge Pass trail and started my way towards Indepenedence. This was the first time I had been on this trail (last time I resupplied in Lone Pine before Whitney), so everything was really new to me. I got a lot of good photos.

Since I was going to be in town soon my motivation was high and I got to the top of the pass pretty quickly. I had cell access there so I sent a couple of texts to Cora and started on the drop to Onion Valley Campground.

I wanted to get to the campground before dark so I could either hitch a ride out or find someone in the campground I knew. I put on Prince and descended at over 3 miles an hour.

I reached the campground and did a lap around it seeing if I recognized anyone. I barely made it two spots and here was U-turn! He was with his girlfriend and his friend Clay.

"Pull up a chair!", he said.

I told him I was just trying to decide if I should stay in the campground or go into town.

"Well, now your only decision is if you want a beer or a margarita", he replied.

I had a margarita and washed it down with some Cheetos.

They made a great dinner and we had a good time catching up. He said that Birdman and Cowboy were there last night and went up to Bishop today. They would be back tomorrow so I could probably catch a ride to town with their friends.

At some point during the conversation, the Gross Out (Grocery Outlet) came up. Someone mentioned buying staples like milk there. I started to tell them about my friend Aaron who was in this band in Portland and they made a video where they went to the Grocery Outlet and bought a bunch of milk.

Clay interrupted me and said "WAIT! Are you talking about Red Fang?!?, you know them?" It turns out he was a big fan of them and had always wanted to see them play in South Lake Tahoe, but always missed their shows.

It is around 11:00pm now and tomorrow I'm going to go to Independence and have a day off. Apparently there isn't a lot there so distractions/hiker vortex should be minimal.