Day 45: The Vortex

We slept in until 6:30. I took my 2nd shower in 2 days and man, it was incredible. I miss daily showers. From there, we are began to implode all of the items back into our packs, and then prep items we’d be mailing back home. 

I mailed back my ice axe, microspikes, and a few other miscellaneous items. We all went to the bakery across the street for coffee and breakfast. Once back in the hotel room, I polished off the rest of the Oreos. We debated taking a zero day in Mammoth Lakes, but ultimately decided to head back onto trail. On trail, it’s easy to get sucked into ‘the vortex’ of town. But we we rallied against it and started hiking around noon to cover almost 20 miles before setting up camp. 

The 20 miles were beautiful, were thankfully free of snow, and were mostly flat or downhill making it an easier day. We hiked past a national monument called ‘Devils Post pile’ where volcanic activity formed these hexagonal rock pillars.

Sandman spotted a bear waaay off in the distance, and then we proceeded to hike within 100 yds of where we saw the bear, but thankfully it’d moved on by then.

Miles: 19.3

Total Miles: 1,145

Camp that night