Day 54
Zero in Lone Pine

Cost: Dow Villa Motel, $32 per night

After our late night movie we slept in and everyone was still asleep at 8am. I decided to try and get the bus to Independence (rather than hitching) and knew there was a bus that would leave here at 8:30am. I quietly got dressed and left the room and found the bus was already at the bus stop but with no driver. There was a sign saying exact fare only and one of the waiting passengers told me it would cost $3.50. I didn’t have any change so I went into the McDonalds next to the bus stop, bought 2 hash browns and a coffee and got the right change. I made it back to the bus just in time. The timetable said the return bus would be at 2 in the afternoon but I overheard a lady next to me on the bus saying she thought there was a bus departing at 9:15am to return to Lone Pine so this would be perfect for me. 

I got to Independence, found the Courthouse Hotel, picked up my resupply box ($5 if you’re not staying there), bumped into Dundee, Lone Wolf, Beetlejuice & Lebowski, had a quick chat then made my way back to the bus stop. Just as the lady on the bus had mentioned, a bus came by at 9:15am and took me back to Lone Pine. I went straight to the Alabama Hills cafe and met the others for a scrumptious breakfast (dejavu for me as I was there just last Sunday with Howard!)

Pancakes with bacon and eggs

After breakfast I went through my resupply box, bought extra food from the supermarket, ordered new shoes from REI (my Brooks Cascadia 9s from Las Vegas have holes already), washed my stove, back flushed my sawyer filter and then relaxed.

We went to the Mexican restaurant for dinner (which to my disappointment didn’t serve margaritas), then organised a ride back up to the trail with someone from the local outfitter. 

There’s little to no phone service out in the mountains so I’ll most probably be updating this blog with the next week’s posts from my next resupply town in a week.