Day 19

14.?? // 239.9

(my watch battery didn’t last after 13.08 miles)

We got up and out of camp by 6 AM this morning. We knew we had a 14 mile, 5,000 ft ascent in Mission Creek. It was very difficult to navigate the creek as the trail was washed out completely in August of 2023 due to Hurricane Hilary.

Bob did a great job finding the path of least resistance and navigating. There were cairns frequently. It was very difficult walking on the sandy, rocky, creek bottom. However, the temperature was very comfortable and walking along the creek, cross crossing it most of the day, was a nice change of pace. We connected with other hikers we know and hiked with them for most of the day. We stopped under a tree for shade for a break. We were there for about 30 minutes then moved on because a water source was less than a mile up the trail and it actually got chilly in the shade!

We filtered some water and headed off again. So much of the trail today was washed out. It was difficult to navigate and we climbed around and up many make shift paths.

Lots of elevation gain today. I did get tired, but my legs and feet are holding up SO MUCH BETTER!!!!

We made it to Mission Creek campground. There were lots of people staying as this was the next water source and a good destination to end a hard day. It’s fun to see everyone! It was cold and windy though, so once we set up our tent and ate, I went straight to bed, which is my FAVORITE thing to do, at home, and I guess while camping too. 😜

Day 20

19.08 // 259.4

In the night it was very windy and Bob had to get up and put one of the stakes back in one of the corners. It was 40° in the tent when we got up at 6 AM. We left camp by 7:15 AM. It was very cool. I hiked in my Rab for a while. Bob had on his rain jacket. We were walking through the sun in the pine tree forest. Hoar frost was falling from the trees among us. It was so cool to see what looked like snow falling while the sun was shining.

It was a lovely hike today among the pine trees, and the trail was easy to follow. The temperatures were comfortably cool. It was sunny. There was tree coverage. We did go up and down quite a bit, but nothing severe like we’ve had the last few days. We hiked most of the day alone.  

WE REACHED THE 250 MILE MARKER!!!!

This was the first day we had cell service for a few days, so some messages from home came through that needed to be addressed. Bob spent some time this morning catching up. We took three breaks about 45 minutes each. We were able to keep going because the hiking was lovely. It was so much more like hiking in Minnesota. It was much more like our ‘regular’ hiking. We each carried for 4 L of water plus the half liter on our shoulder strap because the next water source was 16 miles away. However, because the temperatures were so cool and it was such a beautiful day and a much easier, comparatively, we did not need all that water. So we got to the water source 16 miles away and determined we could go another 3 1/2 miles to the next campsite still with the same amount of water. This got us closer to Big Bear Lake. We planned to go in to town tomorrow and have a zero day Thursday. All in all it was a really lovely hiking day. Finally.

Day 21

6.14 // 266.1

There were a number of people that camped where we did last night. From there there was the option to hike .2 miles and then walk 2 miles down a road to catch the free bus line for the town, or hike 6 miles to Highway 18 where people frequently hitch into town. We hiked out of camp at about 7:30 AM. We decided to hike the 6 miles to Highway 18 so that we could knock out more of the PCT miles with our lighter packs. When we return to the trail, we will likely have a six day food carry.
The hike this morning was some of our fastest miles. They were easy miles. It was cool and we were excited to get to town. When we arrived at Highway 18 there were already five hikers trying to hitch a ride. We waited for maybe 10 minutes before somebody actually had come from town, dropping off hikers to return to the trail and that person gave six people a ride back to town. She dropped us off at the Grizzly Manor, which is a café that hikers recommend to each other and is a staple of the town. We sat at a table with two other hikers and enjoyed a huge, DELICIOUS, breakfast. We had a really nice visit. Then we proceeded to walk around town looking for particular items, picking up our packages and running into other hikers.  We got into our cottage at about 5 PM. We made a couple of phone calls home. Bob took a shower and then we took the red line bus back down to the village and that driver recommended to us that we eat at Murray’s. We met up with a few other hikers that were there already and it was karaoke night, which was very fun. No, neither Bob nor I sang.  We had good food and a good time.

Day 22

0 // 266.1

This morning we made our phone calls back home and had a slow morning at the cottage. It is so nice to catch up.

We ate at the Cafe Crêpe stand in town, it was delicious! We went to the Big Bear Sports store and Bob was able to find a pair of shorts and he bought new trekking poles.

We visited with other hikers in town, went to the grocery store, CVS, Ski Haus again and back to the cottage for a quick break before meeting another hiker couple for an early dinner.

Truly it is the people on the trail and the people in the towns that are making this an enjoyable adventure.

Happy trails,

Julie

@JulieandBobgoforahike