September 30

Distance: 15.2 miles | Ascent: 2670′ | Descent: 1230′

Lunch: J&A – Spaghetti-Os, Tim Tams, tomato soup, cake (A+s)

Dinner: J – chicken teriyaki (A-), A – hash browns (B-)

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A heavy rainstorm pounded Mammoth Lakes overnight, and although we woke often, we were thankful to be indoors. 

By morning, Jason got a message that the person who inadvertently drove away with Alex’s poles has been identified! A few hours later, we had a phone number. Alex texted the woman, who offered not only to bring back her poles but to take us back to the trailhead. It was the truest form of trail magic!

In the meantime, we finished our town chores: sorting the resupply box, running to the grocery store for one last thing, and catching up on posting these blog updates. At 11 am, we checked out of the hotel and headed to the post office to meet the pole thief. The manager of the hotel offered us some snacks from his hometown of Gujarat to power us on our hike. People can be so kind.

Alex reunited with her poles, and we headed the short distance to the trailhead. Up on the hill, however, the mountain was white. Earlier, when Jason ran to the grocery store and forgot to bring his glasses, he thought that the granite showing between the trees just looked extra bright in the morning sun. Upon further inspection, it seemed Mammoth got its first snow of the year.

The trailhead was slushy with the melting snow. It wasn’t really snow, though. It looked more like hail, several inches of tiny glass beads. Perhaps the thunderstorm that raged last night dumped inches of hail over Mammoth Pass?

A hiker heading into town was displeased with the slushy trail. He was complaining about the “snow” and made a point to slosh his shoes around in an icy puddle as a show of defeat to the sodden conditions. The Brits do love to complain! He said that it was really only the stretch from the PCT that was slushy.

He was right! Almost as soon as we made the turn back on the PCT, the trail was dry with only small patches of white still in the shadows underneath bushes. We were moving slow through the slippery, sloppy trail, but could hit a good pace on the firmer dry trail.

With that, we were back to it. Barely a trace of snow or hail on the surrounding mountains. Mammoth Pass must’ve trapped a system overnight. If we hadn’t gone into town, we may have never known.

We got to camp just after sunset and raced to put on more layers. At 10400′ elevation, it gets cold fast. We’re going to keep a keen eye on the weather over the next few weeks and constantly check the upcoming conditions to make sure we’re not walking into something dangerous. At the same time, we both have Search and Rescue (SAR) insurance, and we always look for ways to get our money’s worth…