[pct-l] Lone Pine vs Independance resupply:

[Sean 'Miner' Nordeen]

I thought hitching to/from On Onion Valley TH (below Keasarge Pass) was easy.  Most traffic going down to Independence is in the afternoon while the traffic going up is mostly in the morning (hikers and fishermen).  I arrived at the Onion Valley TH around 10:30am and had to wait about an hour until a day hiker heading back gave me a lift down to the PO.  Hitching back up 2 days latter, I stood infront of the Musuem up the street and started waiting at 9:45am.  I should have started earlier in the day to catch some of the fishermen but I needed to mail something out of the PO  when it opened at 9:30am.  Even so, I got a ride in about 30minutes from a backcountry Ranger heading back up.

If you are going to just resupply and not zero, I say just stay in Independence.  The mniimarts have enough to resupply from if you aren't very picky or just send a supply box to the Post Office (from Tehachappi/Mojave) which is located right at the bottom of the road down from Onion Valley TH.  Though the resturants are limited, you can eat your fill.  The Courthouse Motel fed us breakfast and since I had a frig and microwave, I bought non-trail food to eat from the MiniMart and supplemented my meals by eating in my room.  Hitching to Lone Pine seemed like too much hassle (especially the idea of having to hitch back early enough to catch the morning traffic up to the TH) so I chose to stay in Independence.  Now since I had lost some gear that needed to be replaced, I did take a zero in Independence and took the morning CREST bus to Bishop to the Outfitter there and had lunch at Sizzler's AYCE and came back on the afternoon bus.  The large supermarket where the bus picks you up in Bishop is larger then most you'll see on the trail.  So if hitching to Lone Pine is tempting, you may want to consider going to Bishop instead.

-Miner

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Check my 2009 PCT Journal out at http://www.pct2009.lifesadventures.net/Journal.php