September 30

~10 miles

The previous day took us from 5,000’ to nearly 10,000’, and this day we followed the Inyo north, largely on a mining road between 9,000’ to 10,000’. Another day of acclimating for the final push up the eastern Sierra, but also a day of nearly non-stop views of the Sierra to the west, and desert to the east. The highlight of this stretch was the Salt Tram, built between 1911 and 1913 to carry salt up and over the Inyo’s from Saline Valley to Swansea, which used to be on the shore of Owens Lake, now dry, a stark testament to California’s earlier water wars. We pushed north from there toward New York Butte where we then turned west and headed again cross country down Long John Canyon where we camped partway down, and enjoyed million dollar views of the Sierra from our spots on the mountainside.