Zero Day in Bishop

I had a great time in Bishop. Dad and I went bowling, ate fresh food, watched a movie, and got treated really well at the local post office. The hiker essentials of recharging batteries, fast wifi, and an industrial strength laundry were also all open and easy to do. Great place for a zero day!

Support Team A had sent a terrific resupply, our best yet. We got Mum-made freeze dried meals stuffed fat with beef, sausage, pulled pork, chicken and veggies in all kinds of cuisines. Astronaut ice-cream … YASSSSS!!! There were lightweight fruit snack packs too, with dried rockmelon, chocolate covered mango, and even watermelon jerky (!!). Support Team A are just legends!

It’s a long hitch back to the trail for us. We want to go back in at Kearsarge Pass, which requires a 41 mile drive south from Bishop and then another 13 miles drive up from the desert floor to the trailhead. We stood for an hour in 104° sunshine before the perfect ride pulled over.

Seth is an archaeologist, driving home from a dig somewhere north of Bishop. I learned that the Paiute-Shoshone peoples would fashion super-sharp spear tips from obsidian. They found obsidian in their lands that ran along the eastern border of the Sierras, south of Mono Lake. I had noticed obsidian and pumice scattered along the trail too. Obsidian has the same chemical composition as granite, but thanks to its rapid open-air cooling, becomes glass-like. In contrast, the same ingredients cooled slowly underground use the time to organize differently, into the crystals-and-minerals rock that make up the Sierra Nevada. Seth talked passionately about archaeology and the artifacts he had found or seen at the dig. He also had a cup of obsidian shards in the backseat of his car. How awesome is that?! Thanks, Seth! It was so awesome to meet you 🙂

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