Day 44

22 Miles

We woke up at 3, tore down the tent, and topped off at the cache before starting. On trail at 3:45, we needed headlamps for the climb out of Bird Spring Pass. We took a short break towards the top to watch the sunrise. We rushed through most of the miles today trying to get to the road so we could catch the bus into town. One short break around 11 to eat and get off our feet momentarily. The last 6 miles took us all the way down to Walker’s Pass Campground. We were doing good on time so we took another short break just short of the campground. While we sat there, a Navy helicopter swooped through the canyon and we got worried they were looking for an injured hiker. We started walking again and could see them lower a guy down out of the chopper, but couldn’t tell what was going on. When we got to the campground there was a trail angel setup and they confirmed it was just training exercises, whew! The trail angel was serving up all kinds of food and drinks, but we couldn’t stay for long. We grabbed Pepsi’s, chatted with them for a bit, and then continued on to the road. We didn’t miss the bus, but the schedule the bus was following was not the same as any of the schedules we had found online. Marie called the dispatch and they confirmed the bus would stop for us and it would be around 3, so we had an hour to kill in the 100-degree heat. Found some shade, booked our motel for Kernville, waited, and eventually it showed up. While on the bus, the driver told us he would take us to Lake Isabella, but not Kernville. We would need to get a dial-a-ride bus to go the rest of the way. Hmmm, dispatch and all schedules we found said this bus would take us to Kernville. Seemed odd. Marie quickly called for the dial-a-ride, but it would be another hour of waiting before it could pick us up. So, again, we found shade and waited. The dial-a-ride did show and took us to Kernville, right to our motel. Success! But then the motel had no attendant so we couldn’t check in until I got a call back to see what room we were assigned. Finally, I heard back and we went up to drop our bags and while I was trying to get the door unlocked, Pricepoint and Honeybear showed up. They had planned to go to Ridgecrest instead of Kernville for their zero so we hadn’t expected to see them. Especially not at the same, tiny motel. We got pizza and beer, went up to the room, and chowed down. Up at 3, 22 miles, and then logistical issues had all taken a toll. We were exhausted, but happy to have a shower.