Trail Magic

July 28, 2020

We woke in our tent at the backpacker campground 0.2 miles from Red’s Meadow Resort. It was about 5:30 AM. One or two of the forty or so campers were stirring. It had been a celebratory night for the younger hikers, thrilled to be surrounded by fellow hikers who, too, love the trudge and solitude of distance trekking. They partied hardy until an elder unzipped himself from his tent and yelled, “Shut your fuckin’ pie holes.” Charming.

I grabbed my phone to access the bus schedule. In order to get back to our car, we’d need to catch a bus from Mammoth to Lee Vining and then catch a different bus to Tuolumne Meadow’s. I learned there was one bus that would get us to Lee Vining leaving at 8:20. And there are no buses on the weekend. Crap this was Friday and now it’s 5:50 am. Reserving a ticket is highly advised because of limited seating owing to Covid. I could not load the reservation page. Our signal was too weak.

“We need to pack up. I have to go to the resort to get enough internet signal to allow me to reserve tickets.”

On that morning, we won the quick pack up award. Those whippersnappers saw how it was done.

Our quick work was to no avail. Either the internet was not cooperating, or the website had not really been setup to reserve tickets. Terry was questioning staff and patrons to see if anyone was heading to Mammoth. No one was heading out. In fact it appeared that all the people in line for breakfast were heading out on the trail. There was only one employee in sight, who was trying to get breakfast out to the masses. This moniker “resort” should be taken light-heartedly in this case. I would never suggest a hiker should not stop here. For a hiker, it’s a slice of paradise. But don’t expect a ride into town.

We headed down the hill believing there would be a chance we’d find someone who wanted to help us out and who had forgotten there was a pandemic.

Pick-ups, SUVs and sedans looked as we feebly displayed a thumb and a $20. We were left behind on this long and winding road, that will never disappear.
Why leave me standing here? Let me know the way.

And then, when it was too late to make the bus anyway, we experienced the love of a Subaru. Two young women stopped, jumped out of the car and rearranged their gear so we could fit in the back.

“Sure we’ll give you a ride to Mammoth.” The driver was from Jackson Hole and assured us she had to pick us up because that’s what Subaru owners do. We asked where they were coming from and going to. They had just dropped off a resupply at Red’s Meadow Store, and they were heading to Happy Isles to begin their JMT trek.

“This is a lot to ask, but could we ride with you to Tuolumne Meadows?”

“Sure! No problem. We need to stop there anyway.”

🙏