Hikers Today

We met some truly memorable hikers on our visit to Onion Valley this summer. Some with interesting tales, some with confusing stories, and some that just made us shake our heads.

We met one fellow in the campground the first night. He was going solo over Kearsarge Pass, and hoped to take in Sixty Lakes Basin as well as some other sights along the way. But he was roughly our age, and he wasn't taking anything for granted. His itinerary was simple: get over the pass the first day, and then see how things went. That seemed quite reasonble to us. And he gave us a few left-overs from packing his pack: a can of excellent IPA, a couple of energy bars, a couple of mozzarella sticks, and a non-alcoholic beer. We saw him later when we passed him on the trail and then again when he made it up to the top of the pass just before noon. His trip seemed to be right on schedule, and we hope he had a wonderful time.

A nice pair of hikers--at least, we think so.

Another fellow told us that he was hiking up to meet his daughter as she through-hiked the John Muir Trail. He was carrying a heavy pack full of food for her, and lugging it up over Kearsarge Pass and down to meet her on the trJMT on the other side. We were impressed. "She deserves it," he told us. "She helped get me through cancer. And now I'm helping her do this."

A mother and daughter were hiking the JMT together, and we shared stories of hiking with our kids, and the quality time it allowed us to have with them. And next to our campsite, we met a mom who was meeting her son and two of his friends with their re-supply for the rest of their trip. She had brought up pizza for them to gobble up for dinner that night, and set them off the next morning with a smile and a hug.

We even met one young couple who were just packing up as we hiked by their campsite on the way to Robinson Lake. I asked them where they were going, and the young woman looked at me and smiled. "Um,. some kind of loop thing, where there are lots of lakes?" When I allowed a look of concern to flash over my face, her companion quickly stepped in. 'Don't worry," he said, as he pointed to his phone, "I've got it all mapped out."

We hope they all had wonderful hikes, wherever they were going, and wherever they ended up!