Trail Party!

May 17 - day 16

6:45 AM - I'm sitting in the "hiker room" at Nature's Inn in Big Bear City.  After the trout farm 2 nights ago, we (Wingit and I) regained all of the altitude that we lost coming down from San Jacinto.  From roughly 2,000 feet to almost 9,000 in 2 days.  Needless to say, we took it slow.  We were able to get an early start and reached a high ridge over looking Palm Desert, where we saw Warner Springs Monty and Rizzo (a fellow hiker we've been hiking on and off with) talking on their cell phones!  In these early California sections there seems to be good coverage, which is nice to know in case of emergency.

Because it was a hot day, we holed up under a tree by the east fork of Mission Creek for close to 3 hours - during the hottest section of the day.  At times there were up to 7 hikers hiding from the sun under the same tree.  I carried some of the frozen food that Marcus had given us at the Sanctuary, so we were able to cook up some good food.  Another 7.5 miles took us to a small fork of the same stream, where we made camp and had dinner with a couple other hikers.

Yesterday we again got an early start (before 6:00 AM) and were able push hard to make it too  Big Bear.  As our elevation increased, the vegetation changed from desert scrub brush to pine and cedar forests.  We had lunch in the Coon Creek Cabin which looked like a old fire lookout station, but had no information about it's origin.  At around 3:45 PM with 2 miles to go we realized that we still had a chance to make it to town before the Post Office closed at 4:30.  Practically running, we were able to finish the day strong, and average 4 mph for the last stretch (compared to our usual 2-2.5 mph).  Now at 4:20 we had a 10 mile hitch to make it to town.  Luckily the 2nd car to pass picked us up (the first one was a 2 seater with 2 people already in it).  Our driver was a young fellow in a brand new 2008 super duty Chevy pickup.  He drove fast, and got us to the Post Office just in time to see it close.  Luckily the workers there were nice, and gave us our packages anyways.

There were 3 other hikers hanging out by the post office who clued us in to a party at the trail head that was happening in just a few hours.  We had time to get to our room (a cheap hostel style room that holds 5 hikers), shower and change, and it was off to the party.  One of the other hikers' father had brought burgers and beer to the trail head, and around 30 other hikers partied down until around midnight.

Don't Panic