Onion Valley Trailhead to Vidette Meadow

Mileage: 9.5 miles, total 182.5 miles

Campsite elevation: 9,927 feet

We had a busy day today getting our final bits of packing done as we were being picked up at 9 AM. After breakfast and checking out, we were picked up by SherpaMax which is a service which ferries hikers between towns and the various trailheads.

From Lone Pine, it is a 40 mile drive north to a small town called Independence, so named because it was founded on Independence Day. Like many small towns, it has an impressive courthouse whose grandeur is completely out of place with the smallness of the town.

The trailhead itself is a 13 mile drive west of Independence and is at an altitude of 9,200 feet, which is high considering you are not even on the trail yet. It was refreshingly cool compared to the temperatures in the high 30s on the valley floor.

The trail climbs steeply to begin with and we were both feeling it within minutes. My body felt like a dog which didn’t want to go for a walk and took a lot of coaxing to get going. My achilles is sore after the long final day on the TRT so I will be keeping a careful eye on it.

After a short break and some sustenance I felt fine again and we made great progress summiting Kearsarge after about three hours. The pass itself sits at 11,760 feet which is nothing compared to what’s coming but was already higher than any altitude we had reached on the Tahoe Rim Trail. We met some fellow Perth-ites at the summit of the pass who were hiking the Sierras then moving on to hike the Oregon and Washington sections of the PCT.

Reaching Kearsarge gave us the most amazing views down towards Kearsarge Lakes and also Bullfrog Lake, which is where we spent our last night on the JMT in 2015. We stopped here for lunch and a quick nap by the side of the lake.

From here, the trail rejoined the JMT proper and descended steeply into Vidette Meadow. On the way down, we bumped into Hob and Marissa who were hiking the PCT. Hob was a double triple crowner meaning he had completed the triple crown of hiking being the Appalachian Trail, the Continental Divide Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail – twice. He was one completion of the PCT away from being one of a handful of triple triple crowners on the planet. A very inspirational person who first hiked the PCT in the 1970s with an external frame backpack when to hike the PCT was to be a pioneer.

We continued on to our campsite at Upper Vidette Meadow and set up camp and gathered water. We were joined by Jamie, an English girl who now lived in San Diego. Jamie was doing the JMT as her first big solo trail but was doing it the hard way – northbound. This means you must climb Mt Whitney first up without having had the benefit of acclimatisation. She was doing great and will find the JMT progressively easier as she has done the hard work.

It was then time for bed as we will be taking on Forester Pass tomorrow. Forester is the highest point on the PCT at 13,200 ft but not the JMT. That honour goes to Mt Whitney itself at 14,500 ft!