Total PCT miles 265.3 Hwy 18 and Big Bear City
Greetings from Big Bear!
Gabriel and I got “town fever” around mile 235 on Thursday and decided we wanted two nights in a bed, fresh veggies and milkshakes. So we hiked 20 miles on Thursday and another 19 on Friday to get to town by 5:00 pm. We officially hitched for the first time (all of our other rides have been offered before we could think to ask) and got a ride from a really nice nursing student on her way home from school. (I love nurses!)
Getting in to town a night early meant: hot showers, pizza, fries, salad, a veggie sandwich and local beer. One more night of luxury made the extra miles oh so worth it.
That’s not to say we aren’t loving life on the trail. The last 5 days were fantastic: hiking up a 10,800-foot peak, gorgeous grasslands, braided river channels, winding canyons and wandering through pine and juniper forests. The last 5 days also entailed 30 degrees nights, rain, whiteout conditions in and out of clouds, and stretches with 40 to 50 mile per hour wind gusts!
So now we are enjoying a bonus “zero day” during which we’ll find milkshakes*, eat cinnamon rolls, get our mail and hopefully I’ll find the library so I can upload photos and post entries to this here journal.
*Le sigh, we never did find milkshakes in Big Bear City. We hear the Teddy Bear Restaurant (in Big Bear Lake 5 miles down the road) has good shakes and malts, but we were stuffed after breakfast and foolishly didn’t order shakes to go.
marmot's adventures 