Start: 0700 - Lone Pine (Dow Villa Motel)
End:  1930 - Little Pothole Lake on the Onion Valley Trail
Miles (today): 1.5 off
Miles (cumulative): 838.5 (705 PCT, 89.5 alternate, 44 off)

Sleeping on a bed with 4 fluffy pillows is the most amazing thing ever (well, except for the stunning scenery we have been experiencing lately).  My pillow on the trail is whatever clothes I'm not wearing stuffed into a cloth sack, which is definitely not as comfortable as 4 fluffy pillows on a soft mattress. 

The first task of the morning was picking up the resupply package and attempting to fit 6 days worth of food into our bear cans.  Once again, we were unsuccessful (although I did manage to squeeze 5 days into mine this time).  Then we took showers and packed up.  Before leaving the hotel room I left the cleaning lady a thank you note and one of the figurines Maddie and Theresa made (we generate so much trash that I'm sure it's a pain to clean the room).

After our late checkout, we went to the local outfitter to get me a new sleeping mat.  I had been using a Thermarest Neo-Air but some of the baffles in the middle blew out, creating a huge lump in the mattress when it's inflated (it happened the day we did Whitney).  It was still possible to sleep on but certainly not comfortable since the lump caused me to constantly slide off.  Happily, the mattress has a lifetime warranty so we are able to send it back and get a replacement, but I need something to use in the meantime.  Since I've always wanted to try sleeping on a closed cell foam pad (no need to blow it up every night, no need to worry about getting a hole in it, I can use it during breaks...) that's what I bought.  We'll see how it goes.  

Our next stop was the post office (for the second time that day), where we sent off my faulty mattress and I shipped back 2.5 lbs of gear.  2.5 lbs may not sound like a lot but every little bit helps.  My pack is still heavy (we just resupplied with 6 days of food) but it's 2.5 lbs lighter than it could be! Yay!

After the post office, we ate some awesome sandwiches at the local cafe in town (recommended by Jessica, the lady who brought us to Lone Pine yesterday) and then went back to the hotel, where I sent off some blog entries to Theresa and Nick updated the PCT planner so Mary would know where and when (and how much) to send our resupply.  I scored some awesome trail mix from the hiker box and found a great tent stake that will come in handy; Nick found some extra wet naps that we need. Hiker boxes rule!

By 1700 we were on a bus heading back to Independence.  Once in Independence, we had to hitch back to the trailhead.  There weren't a lot of cars coming our way and I thought we would be waiting a while, but after only 10 minutes this nice man drove up and said, "Your ride is here!"  as if we had arranged for him to pick us up or something.  I wasn't even sticking out my thumb or anything!  (I suppose the residents of Independence are used to seeing PCT hikers.)

Anyway, it turns out that this nice man, Michael, has two brothers that maintain the Mile 549 Bar and Grill water/apple cache we encountered on Day 36.  What a small world!  I made sure to give Michael one of the little figures Maddie and Theresa made.  

Although we had originally planned to camp at the trailhead, we decided to hike for a bit and get at least a little of the 4.5 miles of constant uphill out of the way.  While we were getting ourselves situated at the trailhead, we met a former PCT hiker, Escalator, and his friend, Kyle.  They are some of the nicest, friendliest people I've ever met.  We ended up camping at the same spot so we ate our dinners together and chatted for a bit.  I LOVE meeting new people!  After dinner we turned around to see a deer about 20 feet away from us.  Awesomeness.

Falling asleep to the sound of three waterfalls flowing into the lake is going to be great, too. :)