20.9 PCT miles
This morning, my Trail Angel dropped me off where he had picked me up, Onyx Summit. I was going to try to walk around as much of the Big Bear area as I could today, skipping the hitch into town at highway 18 since I had just taken my zero days.
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| My first view into Big Bear from the trail. |
The first several miles of the trail were essentially a gentle tour through the pine forest. We are so lucky in southern California to have access to places like this.
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| Pine forest near Big Bear. |
After I exited the pine forest I saw my first good glimpse of the Big Bear area. By this time I was in an area with large shrubs. As the trail detoured to the desert side of the mountain, the vegetation kept shrinking. Eventually I saw even saw Joshua Trees.
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| Looking into Big Bear City. |
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| The PCT going through desert shrubs. |
When I did my training hike in the Big Bear area, I was astounded to see Joshua trees up at this elevation. Interestingly, on the stretch before highway 18, there were a lot of desert plants. It even felt hot. I checked my thermometer and it was reading in the mid 70s (F). If it was that hot at 7,000 ft, I couldn't even imagine what it must be like a couple thousand feet down in elevation.
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| Desert plants (including small Joshua trees) in the foreground, pine trees in the background. |
Another benefit of being up in elevation at the moment is the wildflower blooms. While they seem to be fading away down in the valley, they seem to be in top form up here. Even the Joshua trees are blooming.
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| Carpet of wildflowers |
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| This was pretty common. Wildflowers growing in a ring around a tree where there was shade. |
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| The high elevation blooms tended to be tiny. |
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| Probably the smallest blooms I saw. |
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| More tiny blooms. |
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| Joshua trees and wildflowers just south of highway 18. |
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| Just south of highway 18. I'm sure someone refers to this as their "cabin" in Big Bear. Who has their own wind turbine? |
While I was approaching highway 18 I was passed by a lot of people. There weren't any real conversations, and some of the male solo hikers did just about the bare minimum to acknowledge that they were passing another hiker. I think everyone wanted to get to Big Bear to resupply. From what I observed before my double zero, it appeared that many people underestimated the amount of food they would need to get here. My guess is they were mostly "hangry" hikers in need of a shower.
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| Highway 18. Now entering familiar territory. |
After I crossed highway 18, I was back in the area I had done a training hike. It felt good to be on a familiar section on the trail and know what was coming up next. I think my Big Bear resupply hypothesis may have been correct, because I did not see another thru-hiker until I was almost at the top of the uphill section to go around Gold Mountain.
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| Looking back at Big Bear from near the top of Gold Mountain. |
Gold Mountain itself was a little surprising since, when I trained a couple weeks ago, there was patchy snow in the area. There wasn't a single remnant along the trail now. It is amazing how quickly conditions can change in a couple weeks. Trail crews had also obviously come through in that time. Last time there were quite a few tree obstacles along the path. Today they were gone, chainsawed out of the way.
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| This area was covered in patchy snow a couple weeks ago. |
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| There were wildflowers where the snow used to be. |
I found an area that should fit 5 tents to camp in. It was tucked into some pine trees (which had appeared again after highway 18). I was the only one there so a got the run of the place. Better yet, there is no wind. I was going to try leaving off my tent fly tonight so that I can sleep under the stars.
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| Ready for a pleasant, starry night. |
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