Thurs. May 26   Miles today: 13.7       Total so far: 287.3 miles        Big Bear City and beyond

The enormously kind “trail angels” who invited us to their house also gave us a wonderful breakfast of veges with scrambled eggs, wholegrain sprouted wheat toast, and peppermint tea.  People food, real people food!  Today it was errands, then finally back to the trail.  Our kind host offered to take us around, since he was glad for the “fix-it stuff” that Bill did for him yesterday.

This is definitely a "Hiker Town"!

The guys dropped me off at the grocery store, and Bill went to get new shoes.  His feet are a complete mess, and he is limping and hobbling badly.  Done with shopping, I waited for them by a very cute carved bear whose “Welcome” sign really sums it up about Big Bear City–this is a very hiker-friendly town!  Some stores even hang banners that say, “Welcome, PCT hikers”!  And hurray, with the new batteries I bought (lithium, this time–they supposedly handle extreme temps better), the camera is working again.

With Bill outfitted in new shoes, our host next took me to find some patella straps for my knees.  Way back at Warner Springs, my “bad” right knee (which had an infection in it about 10 years ago that did some damage) was really hurting, and Anna (of “Josh ‘n Anna”) had loaned me one of hers.  Patella  straps are great!  A lot of runners wear them.  They’re just a little strap that wraps around UNDER your knee and supports the kneecap.  I wanted to be able to give Anna back her strap, but didn’t want to give it up, because it REALLY works!   So once we found some straps,  I gave Anna’s to our host, who promised to keep a lookout for her and give it back to her.  (We found out later he succeeded!)

Then after a big Subway sandwich lunch, we once again hit the trail–our host dropped us off right where it crosses Van Dusen Canyon Road.  But a little way up the trail it hit me–duh, where’s my trek pole?  And then I realized I’d left it in the back of our host’s pickup truck when he dropped us off.  Now I needed to find some sort of “Gandalf staff” in the woods, but didn’t have any luck with that for quite some time.

A tough trail for sore feet

Fortunately, the trail was very easy going.  Sometimes we went by formations of real marble, and in the distance we could see the activity in a marble quarry.  We even went through a PCT stretch with marble right by the trail.  We also came to some REALLY rocky stretches of trail where I missed my trek pole something awful!  Our first rest stop was under a magnificent incense cedar tree.  We appreciate both their beauty and their shade! 

Yes, that's SNOW on the horizon!

 Eventually we climbed high enough for awesome views of Big Bear Lake and the snowy mountains beyond.  A strange-looking white building on a pier jutting out into the lake had us puzzled till we found it on our map–a solar observatory!  We cheered–Bill is a big fan of “sun science”, and we feel that the “global warming” business is a simple result of the fact that the sun has been highly active for a number of years.  For silly puffed up people to think that mere human activity could affect global climate is the epitome of delusion.  (End of sermon!) 

Sweeeeeet!

 I also enjoyed all the wildflowers along the trail–huge, very sweet-scented lupines, plus the many serviceberry bushes in full white “bridal” magnificence.

Eventually we came to where we could see into the Holcomb Valley, scene of an 1860’s gold rush.  Apparently it was pretty wild n’ wooly there–lots of duels over Confederate vs. Union sympathies.  There were several old gold mine remains in view.   Dinnertime was at Little Bear Springs Trail Camp, and the menu was frozen (now thawed) meat pies and nectarines.  Town food!   

Hope there's no cougar in those rocks!

 Soon we reached very pretty Holcomb Creek and its valley.  From that point it was getting toward evening and the trail was winding among large rock formations.  Since it was “cougar dinnertime”, I stayed close to Bill.  It was too easy as it grew darker, to imagine a hungry cougar mama crouched on one of those rocks.

But we had no cougar encounters, and instead I became more and more worried about Bill.  His feet were hurting worse and worse, and he could not walk very fast.  Finally we stopped for the night and hung our food well out of bear reach, while slapping the mosquitoes which came looking for THEIR dinner!  We were glad we’d had our daughter send us the net tent we thought we wouldn’t need till the Sierras!

(PS–if you are like me, and I HATE not knowing what is going to happen–I always read the end of a book first, so I can enjoy reading the first part without the “agony” of not knowing the end–then you may be wondering what became of Bill’s sore feet.  Well, here’s the “spoiler”:  We DID hike the whole PCT all the way to Canada, and eventually Bill’s feet got sorted out.  We give God the full credit for this!)

Wow, I actually SLEPT last night!  I have not really had a solid night’s sleep yet on the trail except at Warner Springs.  (Bill has no problem!  He puts his head down, and he is GONE! At the beginning of the PCT, we had this sweet idea of each night after we were snuggled into our sleeping bags, we could read a chapter of the Bible together.  It hasn’t worked.  Bill can’t read without glasses, so I do the reading, and I read about 3 sentences, and he is snoring!!)  Yesterday, I was feeling so sleep-deprived that at times I felt like I was hiking with my brain on “space patrol”.  Well, the fact that   A) I was actually asleep and  B)I had my hands way down in the sleeping bag to keep them warm, meant that  C)I did not hear the wristwatch alarm go off at 5:00 am!

So at 5:30, Bill was nudging me and saying, “Wake up–it’s daylight!”  Well, I will say this–it sure is easier to get going when you can actually SEE what you are doing!  But oh my, both Bill and I ache all over.  My knees are sore, I have a couple of little blisters, my shoulders hurt…you get the picture.  This PCT is unbelievably tough on us old folks.  We are SO ready for our resupply day at Big Bear City!

Once we got ontrail, poor Bill was limping badly.  His feet really hurt and he has horrible, horrible blisters.  His problems are from crossing San Gorgonio Pass in the heat.  I gave him 2 Motrin, and from experience we know that if you just keep hiking, eventually your feet “numb up”.   We distracted ourselves as we hiked along by looking at the spectacular views of mountains to the west and desert to the east.  Oh, for the camera!  We reached Doble Trail Camp for breakfast, and again, a dry water faucet with a sign saying “Closed till May”.  But we surveyed our water and decided we had enough to make it–barely–the Big Bear City.   There were a couple of other thruhikers camped at Doble, but they were just beginning to get up, all tousled and sleepy, when we left, headed for Van Dusen Canyon Road.

At Van Dusen Canyon, there IS water in Caribou Creek, but we looked at it and said, “No way.”  It looked very polluted.  So we began the long, dusty, hot walk down the road toward toward town.  Car after car passed us by, even though we had our thumbs out, trying to get a ride.  It was really discouraging.  Other hikers had mentioned to us previously that the best way into Big Bear City was to hitch in at the road just before Doble Trail Camp.  They sure were right!   We kept walking and trying to be cheerful about the thought of eventually reaching town.

Finally a husband and wife, with a pickup truck towing 2 horses in a trailer,  stopped and offered us a ride to town.  Hooray!  We climbed into the back of the pickup with the saddles and bridles and hay and stuff.  “Got one beer left in the cooler–you can have it if you want, ” they said, “and there are carrots, too.”  Perfect food pairing–beer and carrots!  We bounced and jounced and munched and sipped all the way down to town and they dropped us right at the post office!   Trail angels with horses–I love it!

Bill went inside to get our box, while I waited on a bench outside.  A man came out and sat down nearby to look at his mail.  “PCT hiker?” he asked.  So we started to talk.  “What are your plans right now?” he inquired.  “Well, get our box, get ice cream, find a place to stay, clean up, and eat, ” I said.  Then I asked him which way to the Motel 6 (a favorite thruhiker destination) and he said, “Well, it’s down that way–quite a ways down–but there’s a nice B & B for the same price only a block away–or if FREE sounds better, you guys are welcome at my place.”  Wow!  When Bill came out, we agreed to go with him.  The man had some errands to run, so he left for half an hour while Bill and I got ice cream and rested in the shade.  (In case you wonder why I keep calling him “the man”, it’s because he didn’t want his name mentioned).

On the way to his house, the man got his wife on the phone and said, “Honey, I’m bringing a couple of hikers home with me.”  Turns out this is normal for them–they are all set up for hikers!  So we were able to shower, do laundry, have a delicious lunch (a “cold collation” to use the Victorian term), and Bill, true to form, was soon involved in helping the man fix some things around the place.  And it was a beautiful place–out in the forest, with mountains all around, and a big green meadow.  The guy and his wife treated us like we were family.  And actually, it sort of DID feel like home, because there are bookcases and books everywhere!  Somebody’s obviously in the middle of a research project–there are ponderous technical tomes open and in piles on the floor.  Ah–a person after my own heart!

Besides doing laundry (and pulling  stubborn tick off Bill) my contribution was to help make dinner and wash the dishes.  We are very comfortable here, and wow, we have met THREE trail angels in only one day!  Tomorrow, the plan is to go to town and get some bigger shoes for Bill (to solve his swollen feet/blister problem) and some patella straps for me (to help my sore knees).  But for tonight, we are grateful to God for so many blessings today.