Exhausting but beatiful hiking today. We crossed down over the northwest face of Olancha today and followed a crestline towards Trail Peak, just south of Mt. Langley, the southernmost of the Sierra's magnificent 14000-ft peaks.
Great views of peaks to the west and north all day, as well as breathtaking glimpses back down into the Owens Valley to the east. The dry, alkali bed of Owens Lake is pink and scarred, sickly -- apparently, the waters are almost entirely diverted into the LA aqueduct.
At the end of the day we left the PCT to drop down to Horseshoe Meadows. It turned out to be a pain in the ass, as our maps are sub-par and we ended up spending three hours covering what should have been the last 3 miles of our journey. Eventually we found the road and caught a quick ride down out of the mountains and into Lone Pine. As usual, our ride (Dennis, 66, retired) was amazed to hear about our trip thus far and turned out to be a nice tourguide as we descended on the 24-mile snaking mountainside highway.
Tonight we ate a big meal at a Mexican restaurant and threw our tent down just out of town in some tall grasses near a horse corral.
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