Post 4: Bears and Yetis

Big views and big days (and Big Bear too)

Day 6 cont.

Foul weather was rolling in. As we were being shuttled by the nice lady who ran the hostel/ market, the sky let loose with a relentless combo of wind and rain. The group I had been traveling with thought it would be the smart move to wait out this storm for a day or two before hitting the trail again. Our bodies were also telling us that a day off would do us good.

Montezuma Family Market offers modest lodgings and an impressive shop with anything a thru-hiker might need. I opted for a bunk in the hostel quarters while some preferred a heated room to themselves. The market itself was a welcome sight, featuring just the kind of things I was looking for: candy and hot food. Actually, there technically was not hot food ready to eat, just a random assortment of microwaveable fare. One could buy “real” food that had to be cooked in the shared kitchen, but that person was not me. My initial haul consisted of 3 microwaveable burritos, a Twix bar, a block of cheese, and an apple. Opening the door to the community center (as they called it) was quite the jarring experience, as it was kept at a balmy 75 degrees. Inside there were a few couches, a tv, and a kitchen. Attached were a few bedrooms and a big shared bathroom. I inhaled my meal and watched some movies on the big screen with a few others who had been there for a few days already. Socializing with them was a real nice change of pace from the previous week. Laundry and a hot shower followed after we watched Forrest Gump. Appallingly, the international hikers had never seen the film, a true demonstration of American culture. A few other hand selected classic films later, I was ready for sleep in a real bed.

Day 7

The window in our bunk room leaked a bit and splattered on the floor during the night. To be fair, it was quite the storm we were weathering - high winds and heavy rainfall. I could see the mountain we came off of the day before and it was blanketed in thick dark clouds. I worked on the blog for most of day with a few runs to the market for meals. All of my desires were fulfilled and could be justified with the amount of calories I burned the past week. In the afternoon a shipment came in from the market’s supplier, bringing new things to try. Discussion of high calorie options was common discourse throughout the past week, which led me to get a Marie Calendar chicken pot pie - clocking in at the magic 1000 calorie mark. Many of the other hikers opted for a beer or two in the evening but I felt compelled to stick to my plan of recovery and skipped the alcohol.

Day 8

Suboptimal weather persisted overnight in disagreement with yesterday’s forecast. Limited by their visas, the international hikers wanted to leave today to cut cost and time; it was not cheap to stay here. We set out in the morning knowing that the weather was going to improve by the end of the day.

The rain and wind gave me deja cut from my first day on trail. Thankfully our trust in the forecast led to the sun coming up just a few hours into our hike. To match, the scenery also abruptly changed to an open plain, featuring endless (and stunning) swathes of green grass and cows. The final third of the day was spent parallel to a fusing river. All day we spent filtering water thick with sediment. Caveman claimed that the brown water meant free vitamins and minerals. Eventually it came to a point where we had to cross the river.

Statistically, the deadliest hazard one can encounter on the PCT is a over crossing. In a normal year, a NOBO thru-hiker count the amount of challenging stream crossings before the Sierra on one hand. That day we had 6 before we reached camp. I got the best night of sleep on trail so far thanks to the huge source of white noise next to me.

Day 9

More river crossings. To compound the fun, it was raining again. Successfully crossing a river takes a few safety precautions: face upstream, unbuckle your hip belt, and keep your shoes on. I personally enjoy the feeling of dry feet so on the first few river crossings I would take off my shoes. Eventually there was a crossing that required the grip and protection of shoes and a sacrifice was made.

As we climbed up and out of the river valley, we could see the open fields sitting within mountains behind us. Clouds soon enveloped the trail and the temperature began to drop as we gained altitude. Patches of snow on the side of the trail became more common, along with a few coniferous trees. The environment underwent another change as the rain turned to snow. Trail turned to snow as well. While not all that deep, it was wet and and slushy. My years walking in the Spokane winters prepared me well for this stretch. With some music in my ear, I was having a blast in the wintery environment. Miles flew right on by. I took lunch during a brief moment of sun, scarfing down a bag of gummy bears. No one else caught up to me during my break. After being stopped for a few minutes, I could feel my body temperature begin to drop. Briskly making my way down the mountain, the snow returned to rain - cold rainy n that chilled to the bone.

We had initially planned on finishing our hike for the day at a certain campsite, but I was eager to descend further in an attempt to escape the weather. Using my trekking poles, I left a message in the sand of my intentions to hike for another hour. My pace dropped during the final hour and the rest caught up with me. We ran into an older couple who had camped up in the mountain the previous night and were the ones to break trail in the snow. Their belongings were strung out over the surrounding bushes in an attempt to dry them out while the rain subsided. We continued a bit further to set up camp when a sinister looking cloud quickly appeared on the horizon. My tent was mostly set up when the downpour resumed. For dinner I had a dehydrated curry plus instant mashed potatoes and a bit of olive oil, courtesy of Caveman. After the big day, I quickly fell asleep.

Day 10

The alarm on my watch goes off at 6 AM every morning. Optimistic. Usually I have been emerging from my warm cocoon around 7-7:30, right as the sun hits my tent. No sun today though. Peeking out from my quilt I could see frost on my tent and on the ground. Starting a bit later today, I caught up with the rest at the first water source. The trail is almost entirely graded extremely gently - never are there big steps to walk up or down. Today was the first time that I was somewhat winded after an abrupt incline. We were treated to views of Mt. San Jacinto, the tallest point in Southern California. Intimidating, all covered in white. Looking back at where we came from, the mountains looked hardly white at all.

We came across our first in-person trail magic in one of the valleys. Mike had driven two hours from Orange County with two coolers full of drinks, and several Costco packages of muffins and croissants. The others and I were taken aback at the generosity of a total stranger. We chatted for a bit before we were on our way again. Only a few miles later we came upon another trail magic experience: a woman set up a “hiker oasis” in the corner of her property that bordered the trail. There was a water tank, a little library, a picnic table, and places to camp. We broke for lunch here. For me, instant mashed potatoes, a whole ripe avocado, dehydrated kale, pouch chicken, and hot sauce. A supplemental granola bar was a nice dessert.

The second half of the day was a slog. Although the sun was shining in a blue sky, the temperature remained around 55 degrees. Strong winds kept us cool on the sandy ascents - perfect hiking weather. My knees and the rest of my body were feeling good, but the infamous Paradise Valley Cafe was set to be our stopping place for the day. Burgers, fries, and milkshakes tormented my thoughts.

After a short mile detour on a double track dirt road, we arrived at the cafe from the rear. The cafe offered classic American diner cuisine. Just what I needed. My burger and shake were gone in minutes. We loitered for a bit and had a chat with an older couple who were section hiking for 30 days. They were getting a ride from a friend to Walker Pass, which was near the top of the Desert section. They would then hike southbound for the rest of their allotted time in an effort to evade the heavy snow. Sounded too complicated for me. Discussion of alternatives to the mountains around Mt. San Jacinto were thrown around. Ideas included starting a different trail, renting a car, buying a car, renting a boat, living homeless in LA, or just giving up. And we had just started about a week ago! Personally I got a bit down having to deal with all of the logistics that the snow brought. If only it were a normal year, all would have to do was walk. It’s silly to think that the walking was the easy part. No conclusion was met except for putting it off until the morning. We walked a few hundred meters into the woods behind the cafe. The plan was to get breakfast there in the morning and to come to a final decision.

Day 11

Other hikers who spent the night with us at Montezuma Family Restaurant were already at the cafe when we arrived in the morning. They were set on attempting the next section. We bid them farewell and got a hitch to Idyllwild from a trail angel named Jamie. He provided snacks for us and some sage advice on tackling the next section of snow. Unfortunately the post office was closed all weekend. I had a package there so I would have to wait two days before I could get some snow gear that my mom mailed me, alongside some snacks.

Idyllwild is a caricature of an ‘idyllic’ mountain town. Their mayor is a dog. The town is nestled within a basin that makes up the San Jacinto mountain range. Wintry peaks could be spotted through the pines all throughout town. Unfortunately the post office was closed all weekend. I had a package there so I would have to wait two days before I could get some snow gear that my mom mailed me, alongside some snacks. Planning on taking a few zeroes until then the people I’d been camping with also took the time to relax before the snow hiking in the days to come.

Mount San Jacinto State Park actually is just a campground within the town. Tourists can drive their large RVs here and hook them up and all that good stuff. In the corner of the park, a section is reserved for walk-up hikers and bikers for five dollars a night. Although we were camping on snow, we had the whole section to ourselves!

Sunshine lit the snow berms while we ran our errands. My friends picked up a few pieces of snow gear at the local outfitter. Next we resupplied at the grocery store. Notable deals included avocados at a dollar each, and ramen at 49 cents each. Everything else could be found for its standard middle-of-nowhere grocery pieces.

For dessert that night, we split the cost of a frozen pecan pie.

Day 12

Now acclimated to the natural day/night cycle, I got out of my tent as the sun rose around 6:30. Amelia’s Donuts opened at 7:00 and I was eating the best donut of my life not soon after that. After loitering around waiting for my power bank to charge and having a few more donuts, I returned to camp. There been a few wet and sandy days between here and the last time I did laundry. Luckily the bathrooms had outdoor sinks with warm water. Bright sun significantly heated the day up when it was out and quickly dried my clothes that hung between trees. Consensus of taking an alternate road leading to the PCT had been agreed upon, as most of the trail near the summit was under impressive amounts of snow.

Day 13

A late start to our actual hiking was due to the post office opening at 9. Until then, I sat myself at the local cafe while I finished charging my electronics. An eclectic older later saw us loitering outside the PO and offered us a ride to the trailhead. Topaz from Zimbabwe drove a black BMW and had a little dog named James Bond.

Seven miles of snow walking were ahead of us until we met the PCT (which was also under several feet of snow). A dozen Spokane winters prepared me for this moment. Nonetheless, our pace was still slower than walking on a dry trail. We made it 7 miles beyond where the access trail met the PCT before we stopped for the night, camping on snow once again.

Day 14

Sunrise was around 7:15, so we agreed to wake up before then to catch it on our massive twelve mile descent off the mountain. Freezing temperatures were worth the spectacle. The terrain quickly changed back to the usual desert flora. After five hours of hiking downhill, we reached the road. The temperature contrast between where we slept and where we stood then was easily 50+ degrees. We walked a bit on the road before meeting up with the trail again. In the distance we could see the bridge under I-10 that was rumored to have a water cache. While walking parallel to the busy interstate, fierce sustained winds blew sand into us until we took refuge under the bridge.

Cars whizzed by overhead as we saw what stood before us: cases of snacks, drinks, and candy. Amazing! My international compatriots tried twizzlers and cool ranch doritos for the first time and heavily disliked both. We had a look at the map and saw that there no good campsites for a while. We set our sites on the Whitewater Preserve, which is a protected riparian oasis nestled in a desert valley. Finishing there would mean our total mileage for the day would be 26. Once the plan was made we set off with not much daylight left. Looking back at where we came from that morning was a sight to behold - it was hard to believe that we came from that distant mountain in just half a day.

Whitewater Preserve was very much an oasis. Arriving just barely before sundown, we were greeted with grassy fields, flush toilets, and potable water - paradise! Outside the ranger station were even some outlets to charge our electronics. Sleeping in a bathroom to avoid wind and precipitation is something that I have not yet resorted to. Apparently it is quite comfortable, although I could not get over the sanitary element of the situation. Some opted to sleep in the bathroom that night to escape the forecasted 50+ mph wind gusts.

Day 15

In the morning, the head ranger came and met us. He was kind enough to give us a weather report for what we were about to encounter. That day was to have gusts of wind up to 50mph in addition to some rain. Not ideal hiking weather. We decided to take a zero day to stay dry. The ranger station was all we could ask for and more: a table, outlets, water, and even a huge topographic map of the surrounding area. Most of the day was spent using the wifi.

Later in the day, the group who was behind us arrived. They were positively soaked. Miraculously, the weather cleared as soon as they had put on dry clothes. A grand feast was held in the sun on a large picnic table. I was eating gourmet tonight: tortillas filled with rehydrated beans (that I had made myself before I left), a whole avocado, cilantro, and hot sauce. I would have added cheese but I ate the whole block for lunch. As soon as the sun set the temperature dropped, prompting us to clean up and retire for the night. Gusts stronger than the night before made loud whooshes through the canyon the preserve was in.

Day 16

Antoine from Paris, Charlie/Caveman from London, Monica from Wales, and me set off and bid adieu the party that had arrived yesterday. Their group consisted of Arthur from Holland, Waterboy from Alabama, and Floyd + Miranda from Whidbey Island. The next town on our trip was Big Bear Lake, which was 83 miles from where we started in Idyllwild a few days prior. With the unplanned zero leading to quickly dwindling food, we made haste up into the San Georgino Wilderness.

Over the course of the day, we crossed Mission Creek over two dozen times. Luckily the creek was not flowing too aggressively, it just meant that the whole day was spent constantly dunking our feet in water. That too was not all that bad as we had a bright blue (and sunny) sky above us. A gentle breeze kept us cool on the gradual ascent. We made camp after 14 fairly easy miles.

Day 17

As the sun crept into the river valley we slept in, the frost on our tents rapidly melted off. A cheeky (the Brits are rubbing off on me at this point) coffee later, we set off for the day. The initial few miles were a bit unusual - a previous storm had caused a flooding event to restructure the landscape, washing away the trail as well. Glued to our maps, we made our way up the valley. The trail went vertical on us as the valley walls got steeper. The landscape changed suddenly to that of pines and snow in a mere mile.

By the afternoon, the snow has had the majority of the day to heat up and get soft; not ideal hiking terrain. Our pace is halved in these conditions, around 1-1.5 miles per hour. Snow was deep, with a layer of fresh powder atop it from the previous day which covered what tracks had been made. I was running low on food since we took the impromptu zero at Whitewater Preserve. Combined with the elevation reaching 8,000 feet, I started to feel dizzy and lightheaded beyond the general fatigue.

After several grueling hours spent post-holing in knee deep snow, we made it to camp for the night: a large cabin that is available to reservation in peak hiking season. There were no doors and no windows. Nonetheless, it was a roof over our heads to protect us from the forecasted high winds that night. Inside was a fireplace with hot coals buried deep under a layer of soot - someone had been here recently and made a fire! The others got to scrounging up what dead wood lay outside the cabin while I processed them into small sticks and kindling. The little air mattress inflator that I had found another use as a billows. We had a raging fire in under an hour. Our socks and shoes were set in front in an effort to dry them overnight. Unfortunately we had no marshmallows or hot dogs to roast but the heat alone was a welcome change from the freezing temperatures outside. Lights from Palm Springs could be seen in the distance through the “window”. We huddled around the fire and had our dinner before the fire.

Day 18

Warmth rapidly dissipated once the fire was left unattended. My sleeping pad and quilt have held up well; I’m extremely happy with my decision to err on the warm side. The others did not have as warm of sleep systems and they did not have a great nights sleep. The low was around 20 degrees. While the snow was still hard we exited our lovely cabin and set off for the day. Snow travel in the morning is easy-peasy compared to the late afternoon as the snow has had time to harden in the freezing temperatures overnight.

It was a good day. The sun was out and we had entered a new biome that we hadn’t come across yet. Hot pine smells filled the air which evoked vivid memories of Spokane. The area bore remarkable resemblance to parts of eastern Washington, that being a pine forest within a high desert. As we descended the snow rapidly dissipated, only occurring on northern slopes.

I came upon a large group of fellow thru-hikers at the first snow-free water source. This was the only other group that we had come upon. They had just spent a few zeroes in Big Bear and rejoined the trail, meaning they were only a few days ahead of us. There was a French couple, a British couple, and a Belgian. For I think the first time in my life, I was the only American among an international congregation. Stories we swapped and gear was discussed. It felt nice to meet such a similar group, as we had not come upon many people relative to the distance we had traveled. Talk of those that “flipped” ahead to future sections to skip the snow was the hot topic. They too had some difficult days in terms of weather. The storm that we waited out at the preserve they had spent in the cabin at 8,000 feet. The same storm dropped a few inches on almost all of the trail behind us, meaning that in a way we got lucky with our timings.

We bid them farewell and travelled a short distance to our campsite. It was situated upon a crest where the trail switched cambers and exposure from east to west. Suburbs of Big Bear and civilization were visible for the first time in a while. I slept without my rain fly that night so I could see the stars.

Day 19

Waking up to a fantastic sunrise is someone else. Since we were at a somewhat lower elevation, the temperature dramatically rose as soon as the sunshine hit the mountains. The short 8 mile hike to the highway was destroyed by our determination to get some food in us.

To be continued...

Big Bear and what lays beyond will be in the next post. So far this latest zero has been one of the highlights of the trip. I feel like I have a lot to say about it - maybe too much for this wordy post. I had a lot of down time in this previous stretch so I filled some of it by writing this blog. Thanks for reading and following along - the encouragement is something that I have to get used to. I’m a bit overwhelmed to be honest at how great I am feeling. The idyllic and dynamic environment alongside all of the incredible and interesting people I’ve met so far has really taken me aback. I feel lucky to have an opportunity to not just have the ability to hike the trail, but to do it in such a unique year. (And no more knee pain!)

If you have any questions, I’d love to answer them in the comments. I suspect that I may have signal for the next few days, but if not it will be in the next town, Wrightwood in about 6/7 days.

See you all in the next one