Here is the 15th installation of my PCT trail journal (a little more than one week off the present timeline as a safety precaution).

The Hostel California is a vortex, through and through, and I’ve been sucked in! Not really. I’m stuck in Bishop waiting for a package with my microspikes and a warmer hiking shirt to arrive that’s several days late.

Follow my thruhike in section-by-section blog posts, or in daily posts on Instagram or Facebook (@JustAGirlAndABackpack.Blog). Please attribute all spelling/grammar errors to autocorrect and exhaustion at the end of the day.

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Statistics for the second part of my journey are as follows:

Statistics for this section (Bishop) are as follows:

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PCT 2021 Series: Monday October 25, mile 811.7, zero in Bishop (3 miles, day 24)

Monday I woke up to the beautiful White Mountains living up to their name: they were covered in snow.

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It was sprinkling down at the elevation of the town, and had clearly been raining most of the night.

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In the kitchen, I got to talking with a Canadian man named David that was on an epic journey on his motorcycle: he was heading from Eastern Canada, down the west coast of the US, all the way to the southern point of Argentina, with plans to either head back home or ship his bike to Europe or Asia and continue his journey out that way. We had a good talk about risks and risk management while traveling through foreign countries and rural areas. He seemed glad to have met someone who had spent time in Chile and Argentina, since he didn’t know exactly what time of year he should at the southern-most tip of the continent. I wish I’d asked him if he was keeping a record (blog/vlog) of his journey, because that would have been a super cool thing to follow.

I went to the post office and got my package, then went back to the hostel to figure out what I needed to send home. I decided to get rid of my quilt since it was supposed to be warmer at night in the desert, as well as my bear canister and booties. I ran back to the post office to ship them before they closed.

I started my laundry and then walked to the Family Dollar to grab what I could for my resupply, which was mostly junk food and candy. Then I went to Smart and Final at the other end of town and bought what else I could. Then I went even further to Vons to grab the right sized water bottles to bring my water capacity to 7L for the desert section.

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Now I have two 1L bottles, a 1.5L bottle, a 1.5L bag, and a 2L dirty bladder, as well as my .75L pot which would be just in case of emergency.

I packed up what I could so I wouldn’t have much more to do the next day before the bus, then passed out.

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PCT 2021 Series: Sunday October 24, mile 811.7, zero in Bishop (7.6 miles, day 23)

I grabbed breakfast at Jack’s and did I don’t even know what else Sunday morning.

Around lunch I hung out with Stone Foot (who earned his name on a thruhike through New Zealand because his heals cracked and looked like rocks) and his partner Pia who is from Germany. They were hiking the JMT but got off like I did because of the storms. Chatting with these two was really awsome, and I’m so glad I got to meet them. They headed out to try to get a hitch back to trail and since I never saw them again I hope they found one and stayed safe in the windy snow storm.

In the late afternoon Free invited me to join him, Stargazer (his French wife), Matt (his friend from home in Ohio), Road Runner and Ant on a hike to check out some Tungsten mines in the White Mountains nearby.

We all hopped in Stargazer’s van, which she and Free clearly were living out of while they traveled the country because it had been gutted and had a bed in the back, and headed towards the trailhead but had to stop several miles away because the road got super gnarly.

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We cross-countried through the desert, following a flash flood plain and remarking on how much water had to have poured out of the mountains to move the boulders we were seeing, and to create the gouges in the earth.

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We eventually crossed the dirt road which was really just a rocky gash in the landscape and followed that up into the Whites.

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The river valley we looked down on was impressively deep.

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And the variety of rocks that we saw was astounding: every color and texture imaginable. We even saw some rocks that we were convinced were not of this earth because they looked so impressively foreign and colorful that we thought they might have been covered in lichen or something, but when examined closely had no sign of life on them.

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We saw lots of signs humans had been here: a mine shaft, an old cabin, random trash and building materials, and derelict electrical poles.

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It was weird to be hiking in a group after so long hiking alone, and although I enjoyed it, I don’t think I could be part of the nobo bubble.

When you’re hiking with a group, you are forced to make compromises and sacrifices. The bigger the group, the more compromises and sacrifices. But there is also less loneliness, greater safety in numbers, and more opportunity for fun, so maybe that is the compromise and sacrifice you have to decide to make with yourself if you want the benefits.

Free spent the whole time worrying a mountain lion was stalking us, and I started worrying halfway up about the storm that was approaching in the form of black clouds that had already been dumping snow on the Sierra. The desert locals said we’d be fine until nightfall, which wasn’t that reassuring since it was starting to get later and the sun was only an hour or two from the horizon.

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Ant likes to talk, and he’s a solo hiker in the sense that he talks to himself a lot, even when there’s other people around. Road Runner isn’t as much of a talker, but she’ll interject if she thinks she has something relevant to say. I tried to give Matt a trail name, either Watcher or Listener, or something like that, since he’s a very quiet observer of his surroundings; when he does have something to say though, people stop and listen. Stargazer is a sweetheart with a strong accent who I’d like to get to know better, but never really got the chance since she was usually somewhere else when we were at the hostel.

We didn’t actually make it all the way to the destination because the trail got less and less accessible and we decided to head back to try to get to the van before dark.

At one point, the wind kicked up so much dust from the mountainside that Free, a veteran who had been overseas, was worried we were being gassed and covered his face.

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I found a dead bird that I am also certain wasn’t there on the way up, and Free and I were wondering if something was in fact mocking us or stalking us (like the mountain lion he was convinced was following us earlier).

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We saw a rattlesnake near the van, answering the question about whether or not it’s too cold for snakes to be out this time of year.

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We grabbed taco bell in town. I was shocked to still see Sloan at the hostel, having spent another unsuccessful day trying to hitch out. He said he’d catch the bus in the morning and just get a new flight. I talked with mom, dad, Kaitlyn and David about holiday plans, which everyone has different ideas but nothing concrete.

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PCT 2021 Series: Saturday October 23, mile 811.7, zero in Bishop (1.5 miles, day 22)

Today I decided to actually get some chores done, like backflushing my Sawyer and hanging my gear out to dry and air out.

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I hung out with Sloan around lunch after he came back in from trying to hitchhike all morning, and I tried to help him out by posting on the trail angel pages to see if I could get him a ride. He had just finished the JMT and was trying to get back to his wife and kids in Georgia, but the storm and fires made it hard to get to the airport where his flight was going to be.

I love how the trail life and hostel life allow me to have a good time with people of all ages and backgrounds. When in “normal” life do people get to actually mess around with and get to know folks who are twice their age (or half their age!), from different socioeconomic backgrounds, life stages or states/countries? Rarely, if ever, I think. I think that it helps me grow a lot as a person, and allows me to understand the world and other people a lot better.

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I was on the hostel’s laptop for most of the rest of the day, except for when I took a walk to see the rest of the town.

I met a talkative guy named Chris who had a lot of opinions about things that I disagreed with, but we were able to have a friendly conversation. I played chess with Sloan that night (and lost), eating lasagna that Marco shared with everyone and salad that the other JMT hikers couldn’t finish.

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PCT 2021 Series: Friday October 22, mile 811.7, zero in Bishop (3 miles, day 21)

I spent the day exploring the town. I chose a direction and just walked down the street, checking out all of the shops, which is something I like to do when I go to new places all around the world. At this point I knew that I’d be here until Monday, since when I tracked my package it said it wouldn’t be here until then.

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So I decided to go to the vintage thrift store, Rogue, and I grabbed a beautiful pair of colorful pants so I wouldn’t have to walk around in my hiking clothes for the next 4 days.

Next stop was the gear exchange, which is a massive warehouse full of used outdoor gear (skiing, climbing, hiking, backpacking). Here I bought a pair of Icebreaker Mammoth Mountaineer 250 merino wool base layer bottoms that fit better and an Arc’teryx Beta SL rain jacket that was heavier duty since I expected to be getting into more intense winter weather.

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At the next gear shop, Eastside Sports, I bought some Outdoor Research Melody Sensor liner gloves to go inside my mittens so I could keep my fingers warm but still usable when needed, an ultralight Packtowl, and a pair of OpSacs since I’d be sending home my bear can.

I checked out the bookstore, but had to leave otherwise I’d start buying books, and the impressively sized Schat’s bakery where I got 4 pastries which were just alright.

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After that, I went to the movie theater for the first time in years and watched Dune on its opening night.

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I met Marco at the hostel, who rambled about aliens and I don’t know what else, but he was very friendly and made me laugh.

I also met Sloan, Pia and Stone Foot, JMT hikers who were chatting in the bunk room about their hike. There was another friendly girl in the room from LA who was planning to do some photography of the fall colors in Mammoth the next day. I love hostels because of the variety of people you can meet from all over the world, doing all sorts of things with their lives. Just like on trail!

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PCT 2021 Series: Thursday October 21, mile 811.7, zero in Bishop (.4 miles, day 20)

I spent most of the day at the public library, renewing my access to the computer with the librarian every 30 minutes. There was another guy who was there for almost as long, who seemed to be doing a project for some sort of sciencey course. It was weird because the librarian was constantly on the phone talking super loudly. An anti-librarian.

I caught up my blog and scheduled posts to the point before I got to Taboose Pass, leaving the rest for another day when I had more energy and wasn’t literally starving from having been there from breakfast to closing.

I went to the Latin fusion food truck right as they were closing down, and the lady Claudia gave me a free guava drink and some deliciously flavorful stirfry dish with a bunch of tasty sauces to add.

While I ate back at the hostel, Sunon and I chatted about different things. He asked me if my gender neutral appearance was on purpose, and I told him no that wasn’t the intention. Before I cut my hair, I still wore this sort of hiking clothing, but my long hair made me more feminine looking. Ever since I cut my hair, though, I’ve felt more confident in myself as a human being and as a woman; I don’t feel the need to be pretty, wear makeup, shave, or worry about what people think as much.

Later in the Weed Room, I hung out with Sunon, River Wolf, Road Runner, Ant, Free and Matt until the early hours.

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Thank you so much for reading! Have you ever gotten stuck in a resupply town, waiting for a package, waiting out a storm, or simply vortexed? Comment below!