6/7/18, 27 miles
What a long day again. Started morning 5:30am arrived at VVR 6:40pm. 27.3 miles today. VVR sits on the West shore of Edison Lake. They advertise a ferry ride that replaces a roughly 6 mile walk and leaves at 4:45pm. Needless to say Nocello and I had to speed up the pace in order to make the ferry.
Above, the red line is the PCT, blue lines are side trails and at left red pin is VVR. I walked the bluse trail at top of the Lakeshore.
The last 5 miles before the junction trail to the ferry was a steep switch back. My knees taking a beating with the faster pace but fortunately my pack is empty of food (literally empty). As I arrived near the lake shore I noticed hikers coming up from the lake and one hiker running towards the lake. I assumed he was trying to catch the ferry before it left. I followed suit running to the dock. The boat had left and probably 1/4 mile from shore now.
Others mentioned that they had ATT service and called the resort to have the boat come back. About 40 minutes later it arrived however there were others waiting before I had arrived. The “ferry” turned out to be a small John boat that could fit 4 hiker plus packs and the driver. Nocello, another hiker and I remained on shore hoping for one final ride. The winds were picking up and very similar to Potholes Lake incident we had up waterskiing that nearly sunk Don’s boat. The boat operator said that if it got any worse he might not be back.
Its been I think 8 days since I last spoke to Kelly from Lone Pine and I wasn’t going to wait around for a might be back boat ride. This plus the wind conditions made me opt to walk the 6miles to VVR. Nocello and the other hiker chose to wait for the boat, a race it’ll be then. About a mile into my extended hike I saw the boat coming from VVR. Long story short Nocello beat me by about 45minutes. As I sat my pack down Nocello came out of the restaurant and handed me a cold Corona. VVR gives a free beer to PCT Hikers and Nocello doesn’t drink so he gave me his! So in all it came to a 27 point something mile day, my longest so far. I do not suggest walking to VVR!
If my calculations are correct, I left Lone Pine at 11:00am on 5/30, arrived to VVR at 6:40pm=199hr40min=8days 7hr40min to go 119 miles plus a side trip up Mt Whitney. I had planned 9 days of food.
This is a fallen tree, on the opposite side the trunk is about 4-5 feet in diameter. For scale this root is about 20ft wide and 12ft tall. What struck me were the two boulders clutched by the roots. I thought this would make a nice wall picture with a caption like “never let go of those who’ve kept you grounded” or something like that😁
Made it in time for dinner!
I thought this saying on the wall was noteworthy.😘
Nocello and I.
Rather than taking advantage of the free tentsite I splurged $15 for a bed tonight. I had the whole tent cabin to myself.
VVR reminds me alot of Silver Beach campground by Rimrock Lake.
After arriving here I soon found out that there was no cellphone service, no payphone and no WiFi. It was disappointing that I couldn’t call Kelly or get caught up on the blogging!
Man Seeking Mountains 