Day 27

Williamson Hotel to Vidette Meadows

I woke up with a start. I had planned to get up at 6:30 to pack my bag, but didn’t wake up until 7:45. Breakfast was at 8.

When I jumped out of bed there was relief that past me took care of future me. I had packed the bag last night.

I put in my clothes and headed next door to the breakfast.

Breakfast was hosted family style. The owners were cooking for us and it was around a dinner table. It was a lot of people all around a table that had been perfectly set. It felt immediately homey. The closest I have come to that feeling was when I visited a family with strong Mennonite traditions around Christmas. The table had dedicated vessels for cream, sugar and butter. The dishes were all coordinated and everyone was taking excitedly about the food that was being served to them.

When I checked in, they asked me my dietary restrictions and I shared I couldn’t eat eggs. It was my good luck that Emiline (the owners daughter) was a vegan. They said they would make me vegan waffles.

As the syrup got passed around, Laura Lynn (the owner) noticed my green bracelet on my wrist.

“Living Proof of a Loving God” is what the bracelet says. My dear friend Connie gave it to me two years ago in Israel and I haven’t taken it off since.

Laura Lynn stopped and looked at me. “Isn’t it why we go out there? That’s what it’s all about.”

I smiled and we started to talk.

She shared that one or the times she was on the JMT, she went out by the lake and felt an invitation to have breakfast with Jesus like He did with the disciples. It became a tradition for her, when she would go out on trail to set up breakfast by a lake and invite Jesus with her. It was the inspiration for why they bought the hotel and why they offer homestyle breakfast.

My heart was so full hearing that.

She encouraged me to invite Jesus to breakfast when I was out next. We hugged and I went back to my room to get ready for the shuttle that would take me back to the trail.

I got my pack together and saw there was scale. Curious what my pack would weigh I put it on it. 28lbs!

Granted, I forgot to put in my bag of Fritos or my phone, but that was a far cry from the 47lbs Baby Beluga weighed last time I resupplied. I got worried I forgot something, but then realized I was mailing home some of the heaviest things in my pack and had half amount of food and water. 28 lbs was in the realm of possibility.

After doing a scan of my pack to make sure nothing was forgotten, I put it on and headed to the shuttle.

Laura Lynn, her husband and Emiline were all there to say goodbye. I got a hug from Laura Lynn and I shared with all of them how much the stay meant to me. Then me and seven other hikers piled into two cars and headed towards the trail.

We were all glowing about the stay. The rooms, the laundry, the cold beverage, the breakfast… all of us felt the money was worth it. I made sure to leave a review on Guthooks.

Thirty minutes later, we were at the trail head.

7 miles, uphill 4,000 ft elevation before I would be back on the JMT.

I had planned to camp shortly after the pass, but I told myself that I would see how I felt and go farther if I felt good.

I felt great.

My shirt was soft because it was freshly washed. My socks were clean. I was wearing boots that I trusted the traction. I felt like a new person.

I got up to the pass again and ended up meeting some of the same people that were in my shuttle. After learning that one of them grew up in Texas, we swapped Instagram names.

I sat for another 30 minutes at the top of Kearsarge eating Fritos. I needed to eat at least half of them so it could fit in my bear canister for the night. Or I needed to find a camp site with a bear box. I checked my app and saw there were several. Maybe I’d make it to Vidette Meadows and use the bear box.

I headed down. Since I took the upper trail out, I decided to take the lower one back. This trail would take me right by Bullfrog lake, the lake that I got to overlook with my epic camp site.

When I got to about the same place that my camp site was two nights before, I stopped and took a photo. Maybe I’ll put a side by side of the two views.

I got to Bullfrog lake and decided to break to eat some Fritos and air out my feet. Now that I was wearing boots I needed to build in time to do that. I found myself thanking my feet. They really are the hero’s of this trip. They have carried me through each segment. No blisters so far and minimal aches. I was thankful and to celebrate I messaged them and let them sit in their new flip flop buddies. It was glorious.

After a half an hour, I checked that my socks were dry from the sweat and put them back on. Then, pulled on my boots. I was 6.5 miles in, only half a mile before I was back on the JMT.

The next site with a bear box was 3.3 miles away. I was going to shoot for that. It was fairly easy since most of it was downhill. I started to hike.

Around 4, I still had 2 miles to go. I usually like to stop around 4, but I didn’t want to eat more Fritos and I didn’t want to become bear bait… so I decided I’d extend my hiking to 5 today. It was a late start and I didn’t get on trail until after 11.

At 4:30, I saw a site with a bear box. “Maybe I’d stay here”, I thought to myself. I walked over to the box and saw it was locked. Curses.

Okay, next site then.

I hiked for another 30 minutes and found a beautiful site with a bear box that was unlocked. I put my pack down but noticed a woman hiking towards me with a really large radio. From the waist down she looked like a ranger (she had on the olive pants and military issue boots), but she was wearing an REI red Talusphere jacket and had the yellow (non GPS) version of my emergency beacon on her pack.

She came right up to me.

“Hi, are you camping alone?”

“Um… yeah that was my plan.”

“Okay, just wanted to warn you, there is a man reported with a bow and arrow or a crossbow. He is apparently acting strangely.”

I puzzled a bit as I listened, “what is he hunting?”

“That’s what I’m worried about. There is no hunting on National Parks and I hope it’s not people.”

That was a thought that was disturbing. I was wearing bright pink and solo. Both not good for hiding from a crazy man.

“That’s disturbing,” I said outloud.

“I know,” she replied, “if you want to camp with other people, there is a group about a mile up from you.”

She walked purposefully around me and went the direction that I had come from.

She seemed rattled herself, which made me worry it was something to consider. I had visions of being shot with an arrow as I was setting up my tent and decided I would follow her advise.

It was 5:45 when I arrived at the campsite she described. It was smaller than I expected, with no bear box. I went over to the the woman reading, introduced myself and asked if she minded if I camped near her group. When I shared why, she immediately agreed.

I decided I would also ask for prayer, but didn’t want to worry anyone. I’d ask Katie and Josh. They wouldn’t freak out but I knew they would pray for me. A few moments after sending a message on my inReach to Katie, I got a reply. Absolutely yes.

I set up my tent and debated what I would do for dinner. I needed to get the Fritos in the bear can, but I couldn’t eat more of them. I decided to try repacking the bear can to see if there was space. Sure enough I was able to fit 3/4 bag of Fritos into the bear can and my other food. That was a load off my mind.

The return to elevation, combined with excitement made me tired and I decided to go to bed around 7. Part of me hoped that the bow and arrow man situation would be resolved by the time I woke up.