9/25/2023
Section: Milepost 789.7 to 789.7
Total Trail Miles: 2147.5 Miles
Distance: 0 Miles
Moving Time: 0 Hrs
Deja vu day today - back to Portland! We woke at 5 to catch a shuttle that runs through the Owens valley a few times a day and makes a stop in Independence on its way to Bishop. The motel was ready for us at 5:45 with Breaky Burritos which were delicious. We thanked them, said our goodbyes and headed out to 395 to wait for the short bus to come by. At 6:30 am, our noble stead arrived and we got on with a number of other bedraggled hikers. The bus made its way north and, in front of a Vons in Bishop, we transferred to another bus heading to Reno. I went in quickly to get some coffee and made it back outside just in time to make the transfer. On the way up Amanda and I chatted with some girls from Seattle who had just done the JMT.
We arrived in Reno 6 hours before our flight and couldn’t check our bags so instead went to a mexican restaurant outside of security to burn some time. I am proud to report that I was able to put down 5 Enchiladas and 3 Margaritas in that time. Eventually, we were able to check our backpacks in - carefully wrapping them in the rain tarps - and go through security. Once inside, we got some cheesecake and beer. I swear, I will never be able to eat like this again, unless we do another long trail. We headed to the gate when we heard our plane had arrived and were stoked to find it was the WSU Cougar plane! Great omen for our success up north!
After a hard landing in what appeared to be a brand new plane on the PDX tarmack, we collected our things and, for a second time, my wonderful sister Katie was there to pick us up in our childhood vehicle - the Burgundy Honda Odyssey. She had a mega order of our favorite Cafe Yumm bowl ready when we got back to her house in the Alberta Arts district. After dinner, it was the unboxing event of the YEAR. We had sent a number of things to her place from Mammoth and a little before including a new tent, new shoes for both of us (went with gore tex trail runners expecting some rain in Washington) and new hat. Katie had also been kind enough to reload our provisions from the one, the only, WINCO foods so we didn’t have to take the time to go grocery shopping. I took the time in the evening to try and re-waterproof everything with Katie’s washing machine and hung it all up to dry.
After all of our chores were complete we stayed up for a while talking to Katie and her roommates but eventually felt the call of the early morning ahead of us and headed to bed.
