Day 15 September 12th

Start - Trail Camp
End – Whitney Portal                                        
Mile – 6.0

Shuttle Day

I bomb proofed my tent for nothing.  Last night it was calm and crystal clear.  There must have been a million stars out last night, all wishing us a fond farewell.

Its 6.0 miles of all down hill to the portal.  That’s a lot of downhill!  I hit the trail by myself at 6:45 AM.  I only see it fitting that I since I started the journey solo, that I will finish solo as well.  It gave me time to reflect on everything that happened in the past 14 days.  What a adventure! 

I finally arrive at the portal around 10:00 AM.  Just for fun I place my pack on the scale they have a backpackers just starting out.  20 pounds! Included full water bottle, no food, a few esbit fuel tablets and all my garbage.  Of course, this included tent, sleeping bag, alcohol stove and pot, clothes and a bunch of miscellaneous items.  Not bad!

About 1 hour later, the rest of the guys come flowing in.  The Portal Store stops making breakfast at 10;45 AM and the last humongous pancake was grabbed up by Bob.  Go Bob!  The rest of us order the cheeseburgers and French fries, as well as a couple beers each. It was like a feeding frenzy. Arms and elbows were flying in all directions.  It was a sight to see.

After buying all the souvenirs and patches at the Portal Store it’s time to work on getting on getting home. Richard and Jon have their car in June Loops, Debbie has reservations at a Lone Pine Hotel.  Bob is riding with me and I have my truck in Yosemite.

We start making phone calls.  Cingular dosen’t work in this area so my cell phone is useless. Luckily, Bob’s cell is Verizion and we start dialing.  We go through several numbers we previous found online for Lone Pine locals that might be able to shuttle us to our cars, but can’t connect.

We finally call Wilderness Outdoor Shuttle Service who said they can pick us up inn 1 hour!  How great it that?  I only cost us $240 to take one person to Lone Pine and the 4 people all the way to June Lakes.  Gary, the driver was very helpful and full of local information.  As we drove the 2+ hours from the portal to June Lakes, Gary filled us in with all local folklore.

Once at June Lakes, we all hop in Richards car and head to my truck in Yosemite.
When we get to my truck in Yosemite, we all plan to meet  at the Mexican restaurant, El Guave in Oakdale. More fist and elbows were flying as we ate huge burritos and tacos as if it was our last supper.  What a site it must have been.

After dinner, we all wish each other a fond farewell and go our separate ways.