Full flight. I was lucky to have a window seat (didn't pay extra to choose a seat). Paid Spirit $41 for a check-in bag -- stiff. The sunset from the plane was quite nice. Arrived at LAS ~10:30pm. Found a quieter area near Lost&Found for a nap. However, all seats here have hand rest, so cannot lie down.
8/29, Sunday. A disastor in the making. Around 5am, after breakfast, I headed out to pick up a rental car. I booked with Fox, which requires an extra shuttle from the rental car center. They open 24 hours (unlike Hertz which I booked earlier that only open 8am-10pm). I picked up a white Corolla. As I drove out of the lot, I noticed some warning message on the dashboard display. The attendent asked me to pick a different car. Transferred my stuff to a silver Corolla, and drove off, no warning signs. It was 86°F already! weather.gov had a heat warning for this weekend, until Monday.
I drove to Pahnump to fill up gas and pick up a gas canister from Walmart (I ordered previous day). Bought some canned vegetable, a case of V8, bread, cracker, some tomatoes and avocadoes, a padlock, 2 long tent stakes, a packet of wet wipes. Going along I-95, through Beatty. Refilled gas again there.
First tourist stop is Gold Point, a ghost town. It was too warm to get out of the car, so I just drove around and took photos from the car, without even rolling down the windows.
The scenary along the way is not bad, but changes slowly. Big open space, barren, arid, hot. Once awhile, there is some green, like Beatty, or a small ranch just west of Gold Point: Lida. To get to Owens Valley (where Lone Pine, Big Pine, Bishop are) hwy 168 passes 3 passes, at ~7400', ~6900', ~7200'. Some trees and cooler. By the time I reached Big Pine, it was about noon, 94°F.
Without stop, I drove on to Big Pine Creek TH. Cooler here, at elevation 7800'. 2 small-ish parking lots both signed "no overnight parking", numerous "no parking" signs along the road. Asked two separate hiking paries with no useful info. I went to Glacier Lodge's store. A sign said "be back in 30 minutes". Of course, no one knows where the sign was put up. Another couple drove here, needing the same info. We waited for at least 30 minutes. I ate lunch at a picnic table under a tree. The store keeper told me that the overnight parking is about a mile down the road, but I can pay a fee to park my car in the lodge's property here. However, no bear box here, but there's a community box at the TH. I need the bear box, so drove down to the correct parking lot. It's about 3/4 miles. Quite a few bear boxes, but no shade here. There's a trail starting from here, which will connect to the main trail, but it is on an open sunny slope. I found an empty one, put my food here, locked the box, and drove back to the day hike TH, and parked in a pullout not far. Now ready to hike in. Only then, I realized that I had lost my hiking boots.
Drove back to the bear box, looked around, couldn't find them. I must have forgotten them in the white Corolla. I drove back to town to call Fox. On the way, was blocked by a large herd of cows and 3 people on horses. Not sure why they were herded around in such heat. Back in town, I pulled under a tree and tried to call. But I couldn't get the call to go through. Txted a friend, no response. I was so sure that I could find my shoes at the rental car, I drove back. 4.5 hours!!! At Beatty, I managed to call Fox, but only got on their national call-center. They didn't even have the LAS facility phone number. The Fox agent said he emailed my request to LAS facility. Laughable.
The temperature topped at 108°F on my way back to LAS. By the time I reached Fox lot, the sun had set. The employees at the front desk were totally unhelpful. Gave me a Loss&Found form to fill out. They claimed that the lost&found office is locked for security reasons and they have no access to the key. I asked 2 shuttle bus drivers, and then went to the cleaning station asked around. One guy was very helpful. He found the white Corolla I had earlier. No boots inside. He then got the key to the loss&found box, no boots either. I looked around the lot. Now I was stunned. I remembered carrying my boots from the airport. Defeated, I drove back.
At Pahrump, I filled gas again, and bought a pair of lightweight sneakers, some socks. These don't provide any support, but at least they are comfortable and breathable. I was too tired to drive to the TH, slept near one of the 3 passes with cooler temperature.
8/30-31, backpack to Big Pine Lakes (see part 2/3 of this trip report). On my way out, a hiker who parked next to me said that the forest was to be closed. I asked for any alternative hikes, he recommended Lower Boyscott Lake (first base of of Whitney mountaineer route), a lake 5 miles north of Bishop (which I'm unable to locate), and Robinson Lake from Onion Valley. He doesn't like Lake Sabrina (one of my researched destination), nor Cottonwood Lakes.
On the way south to Lone Pine, I stopped by Manzanar WWII Japanese Internment Camp. No structures left. A plaque here and there. Sierra mountains in the backdrop, dusty and barren. Too hot to leave the car.
Went to Eastern Sierra Interagency Vistor Center. Huge parking lot, baking in the sun. A few people gathered outside in the walkway. A blackboard with the closure notice (9/1-17), and weather report. I talked to a ranger inside, and she told me that all permits are canceled, and the entire southern CA national forest is closed due to fire or potential of fire. However the national parks remain open, but if an access trailhead is in national forest, then it's closed. I talked to the hikers outside. One group just came down from Whitney, and said perfect weather there. One guy was planning to do the 150 miles Big SEKI loop. The ranger gave him a few phone numbers to call to see if he could get some last minute permit using alternative entrance. We wished each other good luck and parted ways without any useful info to any party.
At Lone Pine, I checked into Dow Hotel, and had a room on the 2nd floor of the historical building. Only then, when I checked my email, I saw that my permit was canceled. A swimming pool surrounded by newer additions. My ancient room comes with 2 twin beds and a wash basin. Toilet and shower down the hallway. Throughout my stay, I never saw any other guest in the main building. Central AC, not very strong, but kept the temperature comfortable. I fetched a bucket of ice to my room. My nose bled due to the dryness. Ice helped stop the bleeding quickly. Washed all my clothes, inside out. They dried quickly. I researched well into the night for alternative hikes. Found none. Decided to checkout the trailhead the next morning, since I already have the printed permit in hand.
9/1-6, Cottonwood - Whitney - PCT loop. See part 3/3 of this trip. No closure sign at the TH. On the way, drove by Alabama Hills full of odd shaped boulders. On a cooler day, this area will be interesting to explore.
9/6, Monday, Memorial Day. There's a piece of paper with a closure notice on my car. I cooked lunch at TH, under a tree. 3 park rangers came up to clean up the sites. One of them asked me where I was heading to. I gave my half empty gas canister to them. There's a spigot for water. I threw way my new shoes, socks, washed my pant legs, wiped my pack all around, changed to clean clothes, repacked. Then drove down to Lone Pine. Used the toilet at Dow Villa, and filled ice to my water bottle before heading back to LAS.
First tourist stop is Cottonwood Kiln. Nothing much left, only these 2 broken ones under a protective roof. The sign shows nothing legible.
2nd stop is Lemon House. Now you can rent it. There's a cafe outside. I didn't brave out of my car. Owns Lake still had water.
Driving through Death Valley National Park. My car registered 119°F (48°C) at 5:25pm. I kept on thinking if the car broken down, I'd be baked alive here. Scary. I snapped photos from inside of the car. Even at Zabriskie Point -- one of my favorite viewpoints, I didn't venture out to the actual viewpoint. I did see a brave party walking up 5 minuets from the deserted parking lot. I took a nap at Late Night TH, outside of LAS (a bit higher) around 9pm. You can see the lights from Vegas, but a bit higher so slightly cooler.
9/7, Tuesday. Returned the car around 4:30am, and was ferried back to the airport. My return flight was full too. Again, I was lucky to have a window seat. Back to SeaTac ~10:30am. I lost 10 pounds (probably mostly due to the heat). Quicked gained back 5lb in just 2 days.
Summary:
- I don't think I want to go to southern Sierra again: too hot and dry. My nostrils were like Margarita glass' salted rim (inside is bloody). Scenary is not as good as in PNW, even though the mountains are twice as high. Maybe earlier in the season is prettier when snow graces the high slopes. I may hike near Tioga Pass, at least stay near glaciers.
- Lone Pine is a good base for southern Sierra. Bishop too. Good cell coverage. Not Big Pine.
- California trails are over engineered and boring. Avoid maintained trails, especially PCT -- so boring, and most likely crowded.
- Going on a short hike before my long loop to sleep at a high altitude is a good idea.
- I don't sleep well nor my digestive system works well at high elevation. I found pure sugar works the best: jelly beans, sundried tomato for taste.
- Despite of planned acclimatization, my heart and lungs struggle above 11000'. My speed is about 2/3 of normal. Even though I took Acetazolamide.
- I need to reduce my pack weight -- this is difficult, most of my gear is already ultralight.
- My phones (one for photo, one for GPS and step count, both have the routes downloaded) lasted 6 days with a single recharge. I carried a 10KamH powerbank, which had still half of juice left. This setup can probably last for >10 days without listening to podcasts.
