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Published: July 17th 2010
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After leaving the Trinity Alps, I decide to head towards L.A. Not sure why. Down around Bakersfield I cross over the coastal ranges into the expensive coastal area of Southern California. In Santa Maria, I hit a local Chinese restaurant, which is not very good. I stay in this town for the night.
The next morning I head a few miles down the road to Solvang, a faux-Danish town, complete with Danish style architecture and Danish bakeries. This place is obviously a tourist trap, but I enjoy it thoroughly. I walk around and explore to town. I gorge myself on pastries from two different bakeries visited back to back. Out of guilt, I run around the entire town a couple of times to work off the gluttony of the day. That night, I eat pea soup from the famous Pea Soup Andersen's restaurant.
The next morning I return to Solvang; there's one more thing I have to try, and that is Danish pancakes. I order these amazingly delicious pancakes with blueberries and cream. Wow is all I can say. I've sort of done all one can do here, so after sneaking an illicit shower at a nearby RV park,
Danish Pastries!
Danish pastries in Solvang. I head out of town. Not to L.A. as planned, but back in the direction of Reno. I'm getting bored with this part of the world, and will now go and explore Europe. That requires me to get my stuff in Reno and drag it back to Virginia.
One more hike is in the cards though. I've always wanted to hike near the minarets (near Mammoth) and near Mt. Ritter, and seeing as they are near each other, I think I can knock out both of them in a long hike. I head back through Bishop, and up to Mammoth Lakes. This is all such familiar territory now. The trailhead can only be accessed via a shuttle bus, and my first attempt is foiled, as the buses were running so full that I had to wait an hour before hey had space for me. That delay made it impossible to start the hike on time. The day wasn't completely lost however, since near the bus stop they had a climbing wall that I tried out. It was pretty fun, and the guy who works there let me go a second time for free. It's amazing how shaky your arm
Eating many pastries
..is better than eating many pasties. muscles become after climbing.
Anyway, the next day I take the shuttle bus earlier and make it to the trailhead in good time. The intention is to hike about 15 miles to Donahue Pass, camp there for the night, and then return the same way I came tomorrow. During the first 20 minutes of the hike, I'm getting harangued by mosquitoes. It's manageable at the moment. I climb up the ridge and then on down the trail, covering a lot of distance. THe views of the minarets are excellent. Eventually, in a forested area I come across a pool of water in an adjacent stream, that happens to be near the exact dimensions of a bathtub (or slightly larger). Seeing as I didn't get to shower prior to the hike, and this I'm stinking to high heaven, I figure a quick bath in this pool of water will be preferable to stinking up my sleeping bag. The 'tub' is right next to the trail, so I'll have to make it quick. I undress down to my birthday suit and hop in. The water's cold, but manageable. After a quick soapless wash, I head over to a rock and sun
myself dry in the warm, dry air. I regarb and continue on. Thankfully, no other hikers passed by for the free show.
Eventually I make to to Thousand Island like, which as the name implies, is a large lake that has many little islands in it. A large mountain hovers dramatically over and behind it, giving this area a spectacular view. I continue on of course, crossing through a snowy lake filled basin (where I lose the trail), until I reach Twin Lakes pass, an intermediate pass on the way to Donahue pass. From this vantage point, I can see Donahue Pass, which is about 5 miles further and requires me to go down into another basin and then back up to the pass. I have to be honest here, one of the main reasons I turn around here is I'm convinced I can make it back to the last shuttle (at 7:30pm) to go and get a pepperoni pizza at John's Pizza place. It's amazing how much pizza enters the brain after you've hiked 10 miles.
I'll have to rush though. I meet another backpacker who is of the opinion that the river trail (not the one
View from the trail on the ridge
You can see the Minarets here, they are the jagged teeth like peaks. I came up on) would be faster. So I head back, nearly running at times, to make the bus. During the last 4 or 5 miles, the combination of nearby water and the time of the day (dusk) causes the mosquitoes to go absolutely insane and they start attacking me without mercy. I'm not exaggerating when I say I have to keep walking at a brisk pace to avoid getting hassled and bitten- if I stop to so much as tie my shoe, I get bit a couple of times. Sometimes brisk walking isn't even enough, and I'll have a few on my case, and the only solution is to sprint for about 100 feet to lose them. Towards the last 2 miles, I had to do this sprint every 5 minutes or so. I wouldn't wish this misery on my worst enemy. It's true hell to be completely exhausted but nonetheless forced to continue hiking briskly by swarms of angry mosquitoes, who will gladly descend on you without mercy.
Eventually I make it to the bus stop, but have to walk around in a large circle for the 10 minutes it takes for the bus to arrive, lest
Thousand Island Lake
I'm not sure if that's Mt Ritter in the background. the mosquitoes descend on me. Back at the truck, I gorge down my quarter watermelon and a grapefruit (I'm deathly thirsty), and head over to the pizza joint. The pizza was good. Not sure if it was worth hiking over 20 miles in eight hours with a full pack on, but it was good. I head back to Reno, and make preparations to depart. There will still be some fun stops along the way though, such as Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Mt Rushmore, and the Badlands of S. Dakota.
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