4.13.2018 Day 20l

So we went from massively windy and tents collapsing at mile 239 to below freezing temps at mile 256. After we retreated to our tents last night we al knew we were in for some much colder temps. I had on almost every layer of clothing I’ve been carrying except my rain jacket. Anything contain a battery (cell phone, headlamp, power bank) and my water filter were all tucked in a stuff sack inside my quilt. Sadly, I didn’t bring my water bottles inside.

None of us were really wanting to brave the cold this morning. I decided to hike in what I slept in to keep warm through the cold morning–which means wool top and bottom, rain pants, my wind shirt and my puffy. It was at least an hour and a half before I could start to shed the layers.

Not really sure how I was the first one packed up. But I patiently waited as Justin and Laura packed up their things. Of course, with a little humor involved. Yup, that’s my sleeping pad I’m wrapped in.

Since we only hiked 16 miles yesterday, we had 10 miles to Big Bear. With a decent morning start, we knocked out those 10 miles by 11:45am. Justin having been on food motivation hurried down the trail. Laura and I having stopped to shed layers showed at the road minutes later to find trail magic #1 sodas….and then Trail magic #2 pure randomness.BUT while we were rummaging through box #2 (and Justin sat idle with his back to the road) we hear a voice “Hey… do you need a ride to town?” Laura and I look up and there’s a gentleman outside of his SUV. Never even had to stick the thumb out today. Pure luck. We ditch the box of random stuff and run over to the road. His name is John. Says he picks up a few hikers a day. A hiker himself, he was able to tell us about the water availability through the next stretch of the PCT. He’s anxious to get back to hiking as he just returned to work after having a full knee replacement. John drove us the 9 miles into Big Bear Lake where I retrieved my resupply box from the hostel in town. He also gave us his number for a ride back to the trail tomorrow. We were lucky enough to snag a few toiletry items from the hiker box. Justin scored a can of fuel. I grabbed a different cord for my iPhone, the one I currently have isn’t working with my solar charger. Justin arranged for a room for us at the Black Forest Lodge while Laura and I went for our other boxes at the post office. It’s a good thing these towns are small because we walked from the hostel to the post office to the Mexican restaurant and then the lodge all within 8 minutes.

We couldn’t wait to eat. Mexican food was calling my name so we forged them came back to the lodge to clean up. I organized my laundry stack and food sack. So much food in my resupply! Friday afternoon at the laundromat was just as entertaining as one could imagine. I’ll leave it at that.

With just a few hours past lunch, we were already thinking about dinner. We took an Uber 2 miles down the street–cause it’s cold here and that was too far to walk!–where John had recommended a good pizza place. We did a resupply at the Vons right next to the pizza place and took and Uber back. This is what the mess of resupply looks like again. All 3 of us trying to figure out how to pack all our food for the next 6 days in a bag. We are all tucked in now, journaling and blogging and ready to call it a night.

Just a note: I was able to go back and upload the photos from days 17&18 which I couldn’t do while I was on trail. And I’m not sure how the garmin exactly works sometimes as messages have been coming from random numbers. I appreciate the messages but I don’t always know who they are coming from. Not sure what the technical side of it is but thanks for all the well wishes and words of inspiration 🙂 I’ve tried to respond to some of the messages but I don’t think it goes through properly. So thank you… you guys are awesome. I have such an amazing group standing behind me in this crazy adventure!