Gizzie’s pen pal, Hawk

Figure 8:

We were up much to early this morning for our liking. Since we couldn’t fall back asleep and both woke up starving, we rolled out of bed and into the Alabama Hills cafe at 8:30. Daddie Gizmo had a massive chicken fried steak for breakfast. He is losing weight again on trail so it was great to see him eat what looked like a breakfast that could serve a family of four. We sat at the counter and drank several cups of coffee while discussing what to do this weekend and where to go for a few days to rest and figure out our game plan going forward. Originally, we thought that we would camp in Independence but it’s over 100 degrees there and doesn’t seem like a good idea. We have to go to Independence to pick up 2 packages and it’s only a 15 minute ride down 395 so should be an easy hitch. Since there is a bus that runs to Manmoth tonight and it’s only 80 degrees there we decided to do laundry at the laundromat next door and then head that direction. Clean clothes and all (what a treat!), we stood in front of the gas station and quickly got a ride to Independence. It’s a good thing because it was so hot that my toes were burning in the sun. We were brought to tears when we opened another special package from our great friends, Sam & Kalynn, in Dallas. They always pick the perfect hiking goodies and include great notes. I was smiling before even opening the box because it was decorated in a hiker theme! The boxes were shipped to the Courthouse Motel and we were going to kill an hour there until the bus arrived to take us to Mammoth. I immediately saw they had Scrabble and we were thrilled to play a game. Noticing that they have a bunkhouse that is completely empty, I asked what the rate is to stay. At $25/night per person to have a bed, kitchen, bathroom and tv it seemed like a no brainer. Again we lucked out having the place to ourselves. Later in the evening we walked one block to the only cafe in town. We were both laughing at how strange it was to have a French restaurant in this little desert town, but they served damn good escargot, so there were no complaints! We love having the flexibility to change our plans at a moments notice and go-with-the-flow whether on trail or not.

Awesome package!!

Daddie Gizmo:
Our bodies were feeling the after effects of climbing Mt Whitney yesterday. Sore, tired and hungry. All in a good way. After our massive breakfast, I proudly walked over to a souvenir shop and bought a geomarker pin of the mountain and our accomplishment yesterday. Since we have been cramponing over so many miles of ice and snow, climbing more rock trails and doing more bouldering than ever before, I’ve had a pretty sharp pain in my right knee. I can’t tell exactly when or what happened but it’s not very much fun. It seems different from the meniscus tear in my left knee that we took 3 weeks time off trail to rehab. That has actually been very successful with only a little bit of regression. We made an appointment with an Orthopedic MD in Mammoth on Monday just in case a rest weekend doesn’t improve things. Later, we hitched a ride to Independence from a Mother/ Daughter pair that were the support crew for their Husband / Father on his PCT hike this year. It remains a great community of people along the trail. We couldn’t do all this without them.