Week 4: Big Bear to Silverwood Lake

Day 22

14.5 miles

Today's theme: "Drive until the wheels fall off!"

Wow, it feels so strange to write "Day 22." I can't believe we've already been on this adventure for so long!

We woke up to the most beautiful sunrise of our trip so far. Lots of pinks and blues - the desert dirt was orangey red, it was almost glowing. Easy got an amazing picture of it. He's @wohjr on Instagram if you want to see it! :)

I tried a new strategy with my sleeping pad to save time this morning. I tried releasing the air while I was still sitting on it. This worked pretty well but it's still tough to get the air out on the end of the pad (the valve's on the top). Easy’s morning routine is much quicker than mine and I know it can be a bit of a bummer for him to have to wait to pack up the tent if I'm still in it (he carries the tent and the poles, I carry the rainfly). I like putting my contacts in when I'm inside the tent to reduce sand and dirt in the eyeballs. Sometimes it can be a challenge to get my hands clean (enough) before putting my contacts in. My stash of baby wipes is down to 1 and we probably have 2 more days before Big Bear... oops, I should've rationed them a bit better.

We had a steep uphill climb today but it wasn't too hot for the most part. Easy’s feet were hurting pretty bad today. My right heel / Achilles is still not quite right. We both did a good job despite the uphill climb and were happy when we found the somewhat hidden Spring at Mile 240. There are many reports of hikers not being able to find it, but we did find it. Easy is a master navigator, so I'm a lucky gal!

We went up 3,500 feet in elevation today. And now we're camping at 8,100 feet! There's a creepy old cabin near here called Coon Creek Cabin. There are small pieces of wood over the floor and I don't see any mice or mice droppings, but there is strange leftover trash near the fireplace and it has a bit of a haunted vibe. Two hikers (that I think are from the South and possibly Appalachian Trail alums) are staying there tonight. Nooooooooo thank you!

Day 23

4 miles

Last night was super windy. I didn't get much sleep at all. Perhaps the creepy cabins would've been better shelter from the wind, but then again, it also might've been Blair Witch Project Part 3. I'll take wind over a haunted rusty cabin any day of the week.

We hiked a few miles to Mile 250, right near cages of lions, tigers and bears that are used in movies. It was so strange to see these majestic tigers and grizzly bears in small cages in the middle of nowhere. Some were pacing. It made me feel like I do when I visit a zoo - it's sad and unnatural to see animals all cooped up. There was lots of signage up warning about no trespassing.

My ankle/Achilles was hurting pretty bad this morning so we decided to get off the trail near Onyx Pass and hitchhike into Big Bear. A climber in a big white van picked us and another hiker up. He had bright aqua and silver toenails and drove barefoot. Very nice guy. He also had a sweet 12-year-old doggie sidekick. We learned the hard way on this ride that we've got to speak up about where we're hoping to get to when we hitchhike, especially when we get picked up with another (more vocal) hiker. The squeaky wheel gets the grease!

After getting dropped off, we picked up the local bus (The Mountain Transit 3) to head to our hotel. Tracy Chapman was singing "Talking Bout a Revolution" on the bus radio. It felt like a great sign.

There was a man with special needs who got on the bus and said he "needed to check on some lottery tickets." He sat in the front row directly behind our driver.

The driver's response made me smile: "If you win the lottery you can buy the bus."

There was also a really nice man on the bus helping us navigate the route. He saw the look on my face when I realized the bus was going to the ski area and reassured us that it would circle back around to town. He also helped the driver to assist an older woman in a wheelchair get off the bus at her stop. It seemed like it was something he helped out with a lot.

When we got off the bus the driver said "Thanks very much, I admire what you're doing!" I paused and said "Thank you, I admire what you're doing." I've often thought that bus drivers are the unsung heroes of communities. They're saying hello and interacting with all walks of life and helping folks get where they need to be. I could tell this driver really loved what he did and saw his riders as his neighbors and friends.

We got a room with a big jacuzzi tub at the Robin Hood Resort (part of Nottingham Forest - the innkeeper reminds me of a modern day Sheriff of Nottingham a bit). The room also had a fireplace that went on with a twist knob. Big Bear Lake is a very cute little ski town with lots of friendly people and great food!

We had a delicious steak dinner nearby and enjoyed sleeping in a king sized bed for a change.

Day 24

Zero miles!

We love Big Bear Lake! We went to Teddy Bear Cafe for breakfast and ran into 6 familiar fellow PCT hikers there. The Teddy Bear Cafe had delicious food. They had homemade brown sugar glazed bacon too (although it was a little to sweet for me, I like my salty salty).

I took the bus to the Big Bear Lake hospital to have them take a look at my ankle / Achilles. Because I have out-of-state insurance I had to go to the Emergency Room, which sure felt strange. They gave me an x-ray and I was glad to see that nothing was broken. As I walked to the x-ray room with the technician she asked if I was hiking the PCT in my Crocs (since I was wearing my bright yellow Crocs that day). Ummmmm nope. To be fair, I did see two young guys hiking the trail in Crocs the day we left Banning - not sure how their feet are feeling today, but it seems ill advised to me. No arch support!

The doctor suggested taping the back of my ankle and suggested I buy hiking shoes with ankle support. It can be tough to find a shoe with ankle support that isn't a hiking boot. Hiking boots are much to hot and not breathable enough for thru-hiking. I didn't bother telling the doctor that . He seemed somewhat irritated with my non-emergency presence at the Emergency Room. A physical therapist wrapped my ankle and showed me his shoes by putting his foot up on the hospital bed. He also told me about the kind of arch support that he needs on his shoes. I tried to keep from laughing as I nodded.

While I was at the ER, Easy was doing our laundry and shopping for our groceries. We met up to finish the shopping trip together. After that we called an informal cab/Uber service called "Ride" to help us get back to the hotel with our groceries and laundry.

"Ray" picked us up in a navy blue Subaru. What a character he was!! He was jamming to The Who and singing along with absolutely no hesitation as soon as we got in his car. I asked him about the local karaoke scene and he mentioned Murray's Bar. He also mentioned that he's been 86'ed from every bar in town. My immediate instinct was to ask why, which I regretted as soon as I asked. He replied with, "Oh, various reasons." I then swiftly switched the subject by asking him what his go-to karaoke songs were. This question prompted him to break into a medley of a few of his favorites. One was The Band's song called "The Weight" - I think of it as the "pulled into Nazareth" song. He had a killer voice. I told him that Easy and I have a karaoke duet: "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League. Ray immediately started singing that song ("You were workin' as a waitress in a cocktail bar") and I joined him for a few stanzas. It was hilarious and bizarre and amazing all at the same time!

We went to a burger and brewery spot and then came back to the hotel for some TV + blogging + nap time. We ended up ordering Dominos pizza to the room and it was a real treat to just be lazy.

Day 25

5 miles

We slept in a bit and then organized all of our food by meal. It felt like too much, so some went into the bounce box (which we send to ourselves further north up the trail). After popping by the post office and getting some lunch, we went to a very sweet coffee shop called Copper Q. It was our last chance before leaving town to get a coffee, use the bathroom, and plug in our phones.

We then caught the bus, and our buddy from the other day "Audi" was riding in the back. We were happy to see him and told him how much we enjoyed his town. He was happy to see us too - I forget how seeing a familiar (albeit new) face in a new town is such a rare treat.

When we were walking down the road that leads to Van Dusen road to get back on the trail, we noticed a couple of garage sales. A woman who had a few things for sale was sitting on her porch enjoying the sunshine. She kindly offered the use her bathroom to us. I was so happy to accept that offer! She said we looked like very "professional looking hikers."

We hiked up Van Dusen road and then did about 4 miles until we found a nice campsite next to a father and son team. We ran into a runner that could've been a stunt double for one of our Portland friends. He was training for a 100-mile race, wow! We talked about the challenges of embarking upon a huge physical challenge like that (or the PCT), and he shouted out "Buckle or bust!" before he ran off. I've never considered myself much of an "athlete" as an adult (aside from my Nia dance classes), so it feels funny to "trade notes" with someone who is a real, rugged, hard-core athlete! I guess if we can hike 2,650 miles from Mexico to Canada I can own that "athlete" descriptor.

Day 26

19 miles

We finally got up after a few snooze cycles and packed up the tent. Easy says this morning was our quickest get-up-and-go time yet!!

Today was very nice and mostly flat. Lots of jeepers out today vrooming around. We had already hiked about 9 miles before I turned my phone off of airplane mode to see if we had any service. Our monthly board call for The Breathe Network started at noon. I was so thrilled to be able to join the conference call today. I wasn't sure if I'd have enough service or cell phone battery to make it happen.

It was such a treat to catch up with the team, even if only for part of the call since I started to lose service. The Breathe Network (TBN) board team is such an incredible bunch of folks who care deeply about TBN's mission. And not only that - they're lovely, fun people too! It was such a great reminder about why I'm raising funds for TBN. I feel honored to get to be part of this cutting edge, adaptive, inspiring organization. Red Elephant Foundation interviewed Molly Boeder Harris, TBN's Executive Director, which gives a beautiful view into why she founded the organization and why TBN offers such a different resource than any other that is currently available to survivors of sexual violence.

Our goal for mileage today was 17 miles. We ended up stretching to 19 miles because there weren't a lot of flat camping spots. We both felt good today, so we were happy to cover more mileage. Our goal is to do three 17-mile days in a row (one down, two to go) before we get to a campsite that we've heard a rumor that we'll be able to get pizza delivery right to our campsite. It sounds strange but it's a somewhat "regular" happening for PCT hikers to order pizza from this spot. In my head I keep thinking "X miles 'till pizza." We will hit the 300 mile mark in the morning - that means over 10% of the total hike will be done!

We realized tonight during dinner that our fuel canister was out. Maybe boiling water for our afternoon coffee spot was a bad idea. Luckily, we have a ton of snacks and can eat snacks for dinner for a couple of days. It was a disappointment, but not terrible. We learned this while we were cooking our ramen noodles, so they came out "al dente," or in our case "al dented!"

Day 27

17 miles

We woke up early this morning and hiked about a mile until we got to Splinters Cabin. This was built about 100 years ago and the man who built it named it "Splinters" because his wife joked that everything he built gave her splinters. There was signage telling the story of the area and I love that it ended with saying she never once sat down in the structure because she was afraid of more splinters. This made me smile.

We got to Deer Creek Hot Springs, right around the time we realized that our Aquamira filtering system was running out. This is a solution mix of Part A and Part B - you need both to properly filter the water. Part B had somehow leaked in the ziploc baggy because we must not have screwed the cap on tightly enough after using it. Easy thought maybe we'd have enough to make it work until we could get some shipped to us from Amazon. We also both had thought that Part B was more for the flavor and less for the actual filtering, but we weren't positive. It was stressful to be out of fuel and water filtering. Not great to happen simultaneously.

We saw a huge rattlesnake the size of my arm slithering around in the grass by the hot springs. It made me jump and move all of my stuff closer to the water. It really spooked me and made me want to tell absolutely everyone. He ended up slowly moving away from us back up the hill. Rattlesnakes are tricky because they look so scary, but they will warn you with their rattle before they'll attack. In a way it's a very sophisticated alarm system. I still don't like 'em. We saw another one while hiking on a narrow part of a trail next to a cliff dropoff. This one really got my heart beating fast and put me into anxiety mode. My hands starting sweating really bad and I hard time wanting to move forward on the trail after Easy watched him move away from the trail. This is a big trail challenge for me. Maybe we need to take turns with who hikes first in our twosome...

We got to a large dam and walked across the spillway. It seemed so huge and out of place to be next to. After the dam, we forded the river with our shoes on (which may have been a bad idea, we could've taken our shoes and socks off and crossed in our Crocs). It seemed better to keep moving before the dark than to take the time to change the shoes out. There was a warning in our guidebook about the possibility of quicksand after the river. This made me laugh for a few reasons: 1) I thought quicksand was fake (Easy says it is a real phenomenon!); 2) I couldn't help but flail around jokingly to Easy; and 3) It reminded me of that ominous scene in Lawrence of Arabia. Nothing dramatic here fortunately, the quicksand was nowhere to be seen (or sucked into as it were).

We set up camp just past a rattlesnake avoidance dog training center. I was joking with Easy about how I would LOVE to be able to avoid rattlesnakes. He didn't really think it was funny and reminded me that humans already do want to avoid them. Right, that rattle cue sends a very clear message to my nervous system.

Day 28

We hiked 15+ miles!

It was stressful to worry about the water filtration today. Easy was able to open up the bottle and get the remaining Part B solution. I also walked up a creek a good bit today to get water that was flowing off of rocks like a waterfall. The water that is moving is much better than any water sitting still. We filled up most of our water bottles because we knew it was going to be a hot one!

We got to Silverwood Lake and both decided to jump in to cool off. When Easy had told me about the possibility of swimming in a lake I had pictured something clean and pristine and refreshing. THe reality of this lake was lots of trash (including glass), a weird smell, and strange scummy algae floating around the edges. I had thought maybe we'd frolic around in the lake, but we both just jumped in and got out immediately. I couldn't decide which smelled worse - our hiking in the heat sweat or the lakewater scum... a tossup!

My ankle was really hurting me today. Going downhill in these shoes with their zero drop soles just locks the backs of my ankle. It gets to the point where it hurts every time I take a step with my right foot. I took a large ibuprofen and it felt better, but not completely gone. I knew the prospect of pizza delivery was up ahead so I marched on. The way the wheat was hitting the sunshine at the end of the day was stunning and magical. I almost forgot about rattlesnakes as I watched the wheat lightly blowing in the wind.

We ordered sausage pizza, chicken wings, and a big salad from the pizza place. It was a delicious meal! I smiled when I noted the pizza box said "Campground" written on it in sharpie. Now this is livin!

There were showers at the campground but we both were so exhausted that we opted out. What's more time without a shower anyways? We were happy to find water spigots at the campground with water that didn't need to be treated. What luck!