June 24

Another long day, starting with a 7 mile uphill, a bit of downhill and another 5 mile of uphill. Sandy and hot!

I’m writing this at 9:30pm and I only just finished eating and getting ready for bed. Lost&Found isn’t here yet but he likes hiking at night so I hope he’ll arrive soon. He likes to cook lunch and take longer breaks during the day.

The moon is illuminating my tent and even here at 10200ft it’s rather mild. I have both sides of the tent open (just mesh). The only thing that takes away from the beauty of the area is the fighter jets that fly over this area all day long. You don’t see them but you hear the roar (even now).

We encountered a horse party (an outfitter whose clients were waiting near the Meadow) and another 4 hikers. Not very busy! So far we haven’t seen any snow but it’s coming 🙂

The trail is dusty (even worse after the 8 or so horses have gone through), with rock formations and some trees.

At some point late in the day we had a nice view to the east of the Owens Valley.

We did complete the goal for today (almost 22 miles) but I’m exhausted. Maybe a later start tomorrow … We are hoping to get to the exit over Kearsarge Pass by Saturday, then catch the ride with L&F’s parents into Independence.

Oh and we did not feel today’s earthquake at all! I know it was right after my breakfast break and I do not recall anything out of the ordinary (5.8 quake near Lone Pine which is very close). The Mt Whitney area had a rockslide (no injuries) and the trail from the parking lot is closed. As is the road to Horseshoe Meadow. Neither really affects us!