PCT: Day 102

We woke up dry this morning which was surprising considering last night’s rain and the fact that we camped near a creek in a field. That combination usually leads to a lot of condensation, but we lucked out this time with a breeze that came in overnight. We packed up quickly and were on trail by 6:30 knowing the earlier we finished the better our chances of hitching. We’d be coming out in Kings Canyon National Park with the goal of hitching all the way to Fresno. From there we should be a couple bus rides from getting back to Bishop.

The trail starts with easy downhill for the first few miles at which point we come to a water crossing that leads to the campground we’d hoped to make it to last night. We take a break to let our shoes dry and eat second breakfast after crossing. I saw the first bear of the trip wandering through the campground, clearly used to people and their inability to clean up after themselves.

Before we head out we realize that one of the several people that crossed heading the other way left their trekking poles. We were trying to decide whether to leave them or take them and drop them off at the trailhead when we realized my poles were gone. It had been at least 30 minutes since they left and they clearly weren’t coming back. I wasn’t about to sprint miles uphill to find the person since they either didn’t notice or didn’t care to come back and we needed to get out as quickly as we could. We weren’t too bothered about the situation since my poles were a $30 Costco pair that I was about to replace since the tips had both broken off. The ones left were a brand new pair of Black Diamond poles. There’s a saying that “the trail provides”, and we didn’t have much choice but to accept it in this case.

The remaining 10 miles was mostly easy trail with some stretches of steep downhill rocky steps. Almost the entire hike followed a raging river with rapids, slides and waterfalls. This was some of our favorite scenery of the entire hike so it was hard to be bothered by the way we had to exit. I’m sure everyone is tired of it at this point, but we saw another rattlesnake chilling on a log next to the trail. Waterboy saw it after everyone else walked right by.

We got to the trailhead around 3pm and caught an initial hitch with Wyatt and his friend, a couple of 20 somethings exploring the park. They took us a few miles up the road where we would then try to hitch again. We caught a ride this time with a gentleman named Bayard who drove us all the way out to Squaw Valley which was about 45 minutes from Fresno. He stopped for ice cream along the way which none of us could have imagined would happen. He probably added an hour to his drive home by helping us, but it was another example of the incredible kindness we’ve experienced from complete strangers along the way.

We somehow managed to snag an Uber from what seemed like the middle of nowhere and got to a hotel in Fresno around 8pm. We tried to order pizza, but the place we called couldn’t deliver at that time for some unknown reason. We ended up walking to a KFC and made it back to the hotel in time to collapse into bed.