A couple of days ago I realized I wasn’t carrying as good food as I’d thought. Three of the meals I was carrying turned out to be only 6 g of protein, and less than 250 calories each. Rather than trying to stretch that to Kearsage Pass, I headed off trail earlier to buy more food in Lone Pine.

It was only about a mile to Cottonwood Pass from camp. From up there I had a great view down to Horseshoe Meadow. There was a tiny bit of snow up top, so I tried on my microspikes and stamped around a bit to feel how much traction they provided.

The short trip down from Cottonwood Pass took only a couple of hours. After some zig zagging on steep switchbacks, I was in a dense forest which took me around to the Cottonwood Lakes trailhead.

From the trailhead, I was lucky to be picked up by a visitor who was heading down to Lone Pine. On the drive down we had a spectacular view into the Owens Valley, where Owens Lake once sat. The LA Aquaduct took all the water from the lake and surrounding catchment, so now a vast salty plain covers the exposed lake bed.

Down in the valley, we passed the Alabama Hills. Like the Vasquez Rocks in Agua Dulce, the Alabama Hills have been used as a backdrop in many western and sci fi films.

When we hit the valley floor in Lone Pine, the air was so thick I barely felt the need to breathe. In Lone Pine, I checked in to a hostel for the night. It didn’t take long to resupply at the grocery store in town, but boy was it expensive, lesson learned.

I also headed to Jake’s Saloon, a really cool place that even has the little swinging doors in the entrance. There’s great hospitality and a great atmosphere too, definitely a good place to get a feel for Lone Pine.

This isn’t going to be a long stop, I’m planning to hop on a shuttle tomorrow and be back on trail in the afternoon.