Mile 787.5 - 793.5 ( Kearsarge Lake Trail 7.5 miles )

Our stay in the town of Indepedence was wonderful. We ate, did laundry, updated our blog, and resupplied for the next 7 days or so. Our motel "The Williamson" gave us a family style hot breakfast this morning. We could tell the difference in eating a hot breakfast versus cold cereal or pop tarts.

The motel also included a ride from the trail and back to the trail. So no hitching was required. A good thing because the only traffic that goes on this 13 mile wind-y road is day hikers. So you would need to ask someone leaving for a ride to town. We didn't have to do that, which was nice. 

Once we arrived back at the trailhead we had a 5 mile climb and a 3 mile side trail to finally get back on the PCT. A lot of hiking but not many PCT miles today. On top of that we had 2 passes to climb today. Kearsarge Pass at 11,300' and Glen Pass at 12,000'. During the climb up Glen Pass we got caught in a thunderstorm. We were more than half way up when we found shelter from some tree branches and a rock over hang. We waited about half an hour and went for the summit. Not quite the bright sunny blue day we have gotten used to but the temperatures were cooler which was nice. We found a lovely campsite on Rae Lake where we cooked dinner and set up our tent. The bad news is that this area has a bad bear problem. So all our food and smelly items are locked away in the bear canisters and the campsites bear box. With 7 plus days of food each, it is impossible to fit a that food into a canister. So we will make sure to camp at places that have huge bear boxes.

Balance taking a load off high above Kearserge Lakes.

Y-Knot peering out over Bullfrog Lake. We went by this yesterday but on the lower trail. So coming back from town we decided to take the upper trail and it was spectacular. 

Kearserge Valley.

Bullfrog Lake.

Halfway up Glen Pass a thunderstorm arrived.

Balance carefully descends the 12,000' Glen Pass with a very steep snow section. A little scary because if you fell from here, it would be thousands of feet before you would come to a stop. We are very careful on these high snow crossings.

If we fell, this is what would await us. Maybe hard to tell by photo, but trust me it is steep and deep. This is why we are super careful here.

Beautiful Rae Lake and our camping spot for tonight. It may get cold here over night. We are still at around 10,500'.