John Muir Trail Day 7: Our First Wild Animal Visitor, Kearsarge Pass and Resupply #1

Wake up and stay still. Very Still.

The messaging from my brain was simple and urgent. I felt myself shoot through the layers of sleep to come fully awake, somehow understanding the assignment immediately. My mind started to quickly feed me important information: the world was still pitch black, my husband and I were both awake and there was something large moving around outside our tent.

(Want to see the people, places and all-around mayhem mentioned in this post? Here’s the Instagram Reel I might regret posting…)

In the faintest of a whisper, I said to my husband, Cliff, lying next to me, “Are you hearing that?” 

“Yes,” he whispered back. No need for any further conversation until the large animal decided its next move.

Animal Visitors and the Best Bear Deterrent

We were camped in Vidette Meadows, a place known equally for its beauty and its beasts. The area earned its reputation, by way of careless hikers, after bears identified this location as an easy food source. Much had improved since then with backpackers keeping their campsites clean, using required bear cans and lockers and never leaving their food unattended…but a bear never forgets where it found a low-effort meal.

SNAP.

We both jerked at the sound of a large branch breaking, giving instant confirmation that the animal was big. It had also moved closer to our tent. I forced myself into stillness again, listening intently to the forest around us. 

A minute passed, then a few more and finally with no further animal sounds to be heard, my husband whispered that he was going back to sleep. He then employed the best bear deterrent we had on hand: our air mattresses. Cliff’s ultra light mattress of choice was a Therm-a-Rest while mine was a Nemo, two brands that were highly competitive in regard to how noisy they could be. Cliff turned on his side, causing the mattress to trumpet out a complaint. Not to be outdone, my air mattress emitted its own fog horn reply when I flopped on my stomach. I laughed at the job well done when we didn’t hear another sound out of the forest or from the large animal that wanted nothing to do with the hideous noises coming from our tent.

Going Off Course for Our First Resupply

When morning came, we awoke excited that we would be hiking up and over Kearsarge Pass to the Onion Valley trailhead. Once there, we would head into the town of Independence for our first resupply. We hoped to find a good restaurant, hot showers, a place to wash our dirt-encrusted clothes, and a real bed. 

We broke down our camp and packed up in record time and headed out on a delightfully flat section of the John Muir Trail, watching carefully for our turn onto the Kearsarge Pass Trail. Hiking in the beautiful morning sunlight was sheer joy and, just a short while later, we found ourselves at a sign post noting we arrived at our turn.

It also had two different laminated signs taped to it begging hikers to heed its warning: this was an active bear area and it was up to us to deter their pursuit of our food. One of the signs was handwritten by the Charlotte Lake Ranger who advised us if we saw a bear to “chase it like you are trying to catch and eat it.”  

Headed Up Kearsarge Pass

We took the turn onto Kearsarge Pass Trail and realized we would be steadily climbing until we reached the top of the mountain pass. I took a deep breath, finding myself with very little energy, but continued to trudge onward at a steady pace. 

For the next 4.9 miles and 2,339 feet of elevation gain, we hiked through some of the most beautiful landscapes that I only thought could be created in dreams. Stunning at every turn, I hiked along with very little energy but still felt happy to be doing so.

As we emerged from the treeline to hit the wind-scoured rocky switchbacks, I couldn’t seem to overcome the anxiety that every step we took moved us farther and farther away from the actual John Muir Trail. It felt like a backslide since our mileage didn’t count towards our progress of chipping away at the official 211-mile JMT total. Was our resupply worth all this extra mileage that didn’t even count?  

It didn’t matter how I felt about it, though, because the resupply wasn’t optional. We didn’t have enough space in our extra large bear can to carry more food. My badly skewed perspective was also a perfect indication that we did, in fact, need the break that came with this resupply because there were no official versus unofficial miles – all of our miles counted because our adventure was bigger than just completing the John Muir Trail. That fact was confirmed the minute we decided to start this journey from the Cottonwood Lakes trailhead. 

When we finally arrived at Kearsage Pass, we found that it was a busy throughway of sorts for hikers coming and going from their own resupply and zero days. We also realized it was a Friday, which meant day hikers and weekend backpackers were also making their way up the pass from the Onion Valley trailhead.

Flying By the Seat of Our Pants Straight Into Town

This realization made us pick up the pace on the descent strictly out of concern for getting a motel room for the night. We had no reservation; we had no idea how long it would take us to hike to this point. Since we were in a hurry, the descent seemed to take an obscenely long time…until a final switchback straightened and delivered us to the trailhead parking lot. 

Hikers of all sorts were grouped up near the bathrooms and we realized they were all waiting for motel shuttles or their prearranged rides. With no ride and no way to call for one due to zero cell phone service, we started the long hike into Independence. The day was hot and the sun radiated off of the asphalt as we carried our packs and a promise from one JMT hiker who assured us he would spread the word among any shuttles or carpooling hikers that we needed a ride.

Cliff and I stopped on the side of the road to try to place a phone call but found our phones unable to connect to any nearby towers. We stayed in the shelter of the pine trees as we put away our phones and dug out our water bottles when we heard a car pull off the road and stop right behind us. We both turned as the driver hollered out, “Do you guys need a ride?”  And just like that, we were on our way into Independence.  

The driver and fellow hiker had just completed a section of the JMT and was headed through Indepence on his way home. We chatted with him the entire way, marveling at the air conditioner, the soft seats, the beautiful drive, and above all else, trail angels. 

Our ride dropped us off at the Independence post office where we walked straight in and up to the counter. The kind employee asked Cliff for his ID and, in less than a minute, we were handed the bright blue resupply bucket we had sent to ourselves a month before. 

Cliff grabbed the bucket and I placed a phone call to Mt. Williamson Motel and Basecamp. This particular motel came highly recommended by every hiker we talked to who had experience resupplying in Independence. Because of this, I expected to be told they had no vacancies. I prayed to the hiker gods to please come through for us just as the phone call connected with the front desk.

 When It All Works Out

As it turns out, they did in fact have a vacancy and the room was ready and waiting for us as soon as we could get there. We hiked several blocks from the post office to the charming Mt. Williamson Motel where we took off our backpacks at a picnic bench.  I waited with our stuff while Cliff checked us in at the nearby front office.

He emerged a short while later with a beer in hand for him and a cold soda water for me, a freebie welcoming us to this paradise created with thru hikers in mind.

We stepped into our hotel room and the clean, air-conditioned interior was second only to the amazingly squishy bed. Cliff told me that they had laundry services on hand. We gathered all of our disgustingly dirty clothing into a basket and handed it off to them. The motel staff would do everything else. Oh, and since we had no clean clothes to change into, they provided loaner t-shirts and shorts for us to wear until we got our laundry back. I was absolutely struck dumb at how little we would have to do and how easy our resupply and reset was turning out to be.

A shower after seven days of being on the dusty trails of the Sierra Nevada felt like a luxury on a level that I don’t think I will ever experience again. Washing my hair twice caused a dopamine hit so strong, I felt drunk with gratitude. 

 After we both took showers and donned our loaner clothes, Cliff and I avoided eye contact with the bed out of fear we would be sucked into sleep and miss our chance to hit the taco truck down the street. 

We hustled out the door and race walked all the way to the open window of the food truck, sparing no time in trying to make a careful decision about what we wanted. It all looked amazing. I was set on the giant asada burrito floating in a lake of green chili and Cliff ordered the taco platter bigger than the food truck itself.

We sat and patiently waited for our food to be ready while trying not to gnaw on the table cloth. His name was called and we almost flipped the table in our haste to get that food in our gaping maws.  

Nothing ever tasted so good…until two hours later when we were back again, this time for a round of freshly made salty tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, and a massive breakfast burrito to share in the morning. We took it all to go and sat on the bed scarfing everything but the burrito, which we eyed when there was nothing else left to eat.

And finally, the last thing to do on our list was to sleep. We both needed quality, sound and solid sleep. Just as soon as our heads hit the perfectly soft pillows, neither one of us moved again for a very, very long time.

Stats for us hiker nerds

Day 7- August 23, 2024

Vidette Meadows over Kearsarge Pass to Onion Valley Trailhead for Resupply #1

Mountain Pass/Summit: Kearsarge Pass elevation 11,823’

Elevation Gain: 2,339’ (from our campsite at Vidette Meadows to the top of Kearsarge Pass)

Mileage: 9.7 

Want to see all the people, places and all-around mayhem mentioned in this post?  Head on over to my TikTok and Instagram accounts!