8 (+6) Miles (Duck Pass)
Woke up to a cold morning near the river. The hiking was fine, just some easy ups and downs before hitting our trail junction. Passed a couple lakes along the way that looked like they had quite a few JMT hikers camped nearby. Pricepoint and Honeybear leapfrogged with us a little before we said our brief goodbyes at the junction. They were continuing on to Red’s Meadow while we were heading over Duck Pass to head out to Mammoth Lakes. The hike over the pass and down to the campground was scenic and smooth, but full of day hikers. I was ready to be done with hiking for the day so I flew by them all until I got down to the trailhead. Marie mentioned that her friend Rob (Glitter, ’14) was on a road trip and might still be near Mammoth. We caught the free trolley that runs all over the resort and made our way into town. First stop was the post office to get our bounce box and care package (thank you, Jim & Missy!!). As soon as I walked out of the post office, Rob was already there. What luck! He and Levi were very close to Mammoth and picked us up to go grab a beer and catch up. It was great to meet the both of them and talk about life on the trail. I hope we can meet up with them again when we get to Washington. We parted ways and then had to figure out where we were going to stay. We made a reservation, walked over to the hotel, but couldn’t check in yet because the reservation hadn’t made its way through the tubes. We eventually got a room key and dropped off our packs and boxes. Food was next, so we got pasta dinners to-go from the Italian place across the road. Settled into the room and stuffed with food, sleep came easy.
PCT Hike 