PCT 2023 - Day 23

The one with the 250 miles, Goblin and a squiggle with a giggle!

📍 Location: MM 246 to Big Bear

🏔️ Elevation: 8535ff (Onyx Summit)
🥾 I actually walked: 20 miles baby!!
💰 Money: $190 on two nights in a hotel, $10 hitch, $40 for pizza, salad and hot chocolate (expensive!).
⛑️ Health: If I’m honest, I’m feeling it today. 20 miles was challenging and my right shin is very painful. I’ll treat my blisters in the morning and hopefully feel better after a few days rest.

☀️ Weather: The weather was freezing first thing but was around 20 degrees for the rest of the day. So, for me, it was a perfect weather day.

🍲 Food: Snickers for breakfast (it’s all I had left!). Tuna and pitta bread for lunch and then a big hot pizza with salad for dinner. We’ve heard stories of people leaving the trail due to losing too much weight and not eating enough calories, so my next resupply will be more calorie dense. I’ve already lost quite a bit of weight and I can’t afford to loose any more.

💤 Sleep: Bloody awful. Around 11pm we heard a loud noise, like a thud at the back door of the cabin (where there was no door, just a door frame). We were shitting ourselves as we thought it was a bear but soon figured out it was snow falling off the roof and landing on the concrete. The wind was howling all night and it was well into the minus figures. I’m glad we were inside and felt for those in a tent. It was an experience but I’m so looking forward to sleeping in a real bed with central heating!

THE LONG WINDED VERSION:-

🧊 5.30am Omg! It’s so cold. My fingers are not working and it’s incredibly painful to pack up my gear. I’m just thankful that I don’t have a tent to roll up! We are all very quiet. Erica seems to have recovered from her mouse incident and Joey is sleeping soundly. It’s just DinkyDi and I that are awake. I’m so glad that’s she’s and early bird like me.

🥶 6.30am And we are off! My hands are warming up with my liners in and my deer skin gloves, but my feet are still completely numb. Our original goal was 11 miles today, then camp tonight. This will leave us with a short day tomorrow as we head into town.

🥾 We have 600ft of elevation over a period of 2 miles, and then the terrain is downhill or flat(ish) all the way to Big Bear Lake. (Food, bed, warm!). As we stop to stretch and catch our breath I turn to Di. “What do you think about pushing ourselves today and try to get into town?” Di looks at me and says “that’s 20 miles!”. “I know, but town food is a big motivator and after we summit this section then it’s all downhill”. We agree that we will give it a go, but if it’s too much then we will just pop our tents up when we are tired. DinkyDi is like me and it’s good to have a goal!

🐿️ 8.29am - This forest is absolutely stunning. We have the privilege of looking around us today rather than watching our feet. We sit for a moment and listen to the woodpecker and then we spot the bird on a fallen tree. A little chipmunk is with the bird and they seem to be working as a team. It’s fascinating to watch

🏔️ 9.10am - After a gruelling climb we finally reach Onyx summit. A kind trail Angel has left lots of bottles of water here and Di fills up. For some reason I just don’t drink as much as everyone else and I always have spare water with me. I snap a photo of a sign giving details of hiker friendly accommodation in Big Bear and then we are on our way agin.

🧺 12 pm - Knowing we have a big day ahead of us, we set little goals. We want to reach the spring that has picnic tables by lunch time. We roll up at 12 noon. Perfect timing! We have now completed 9.4 miles and it’s only midday. Our goal of 20 miles is looking hopeful. We are eating lunch with Handyman, Joey, Sorry and Hops. They are all youngsters and chat enthusiastically about the trail. Fully refreshed with food in our belly and muscles stretched, DinkyDi and I haul on our heavy packs and set off into the woods again. The trail takes us over lots of streams and we have to hop on stones and fallen logs to cross. It’s fun and distracting which is good.

👧 1.30pm - We come across a group of youngsters sitting in a circle with a camp leader. They start to clap and cheer Di and Me saying “well done, keep going”. We stop to chat and DinkyDi teaches them the “leave no trace” dance which they all perform for camera (see video clip). What a great boost to our moral. With a hop and a skip we continue on our hike. Only 8 miles to go now!

💃 2pm - We pass a second group of youngsters but they are listening to their leader explaining about the environment so we just continue on the trail. More creeks to negotiate and the trail
is now going up! I thought we were done with the inclines for today but hey ho, let’s get this shit done! (Which is our phrase adopted from Pat Knight…. Thanks Pat!). We come across a wooden bridge and I say to DinkyDi “we can’t cross a bridge without doing a bridge dance”. “What’s a bridge dance?” She asks. “I’ve no idea!” I replied.
I laughed “let’s make one up”. So
We both danced over the bridge (multiple times and laughed a lot!). Our choreography skills were little to be desired but we had fun nether the less. “How far do we have left?” asks Di, and we both check our phones. Shit!! We were so far off trail it was unreal. How on earth did that happen? “Right, we have two choices. We either walk back to the trail which looks to be about 2 miles, or we continue on this trail and have a bit of an adventure. This trail looks like it might meet up with the PCT trail in about a mile or so. What do you think Di?”. DinkyDi grins at me “we are here for an adventure aren’t we? Let’s see where the path takes us”. We pick up our poles and with enthusiasm of the unknown we venture off into the hills.

🥾 3.10pm - We can see the PCT trail way down below us and it’s on the other side of the river in the canyon. We keep stopping very few hundred yards to check the this trail is leading us in the right direction. We seem to be on track and the red PCT line is now getting closer to our green “lost squiggle” line. DinkyDi says “wouldn’t it be funny if we saw Handyman” as he left for lunch before us. We then hear the sound of hiking poles click clacking on the ground to our right. Blimey, it’s Handyman! How spooky is that? We start howling with laughter and the sweat is pouring off him. He has just climbed a huge incline out of the canyon and it looked tough. Our little squiggle saved us quite a climb but we tried not to grin too much! Looking at the map, we shaved about a mile off the route today. Now that’s a good squiggle!

🦅 We are now 14 miles into our hike and it’s getting tough. Handyman has zoomed ahead. We spot a man sitting on a rock in the shade and stop to say hi. His name is Goblin. He’s about the same height as me, has a small beard and is 29 years old. He got the trail name Goblin as he cowboy camped in a cave. The name suited him. As we chat a huge vulture flew over our heads. Wow! I’ve never seen one that close before. They are gigantic!

🥾 As we turn the next corner we see out first glimpse of the stunning blue waters of Big Bear Lake. It’s only 6.5 miles away but it feels close. As we are taking photos and stop to book accommodation as we finally have service. We are joined by Erica and Joey. There are now five of us all walking together in single file and the chatter is high. We are mainly talking about pizza, beer, wine and a hot shower!

This last section down the mountain is beautiful but it does go on forever! We see a big off road vehicle parked on an old dirt road. It’s a good feeling to see some sort of civilisation as we emerge from the wilderness after days on the trail.

🔨 5:30pm - A group of day hikers are heading towards us. I’m up front and stop to chat. This guy has a long grey beard, jeans and a heavy metal t-shirt on. In one hand he has a beer, in the other he is holding a hammer. Yep! A hammer. He seems friendly enough so I ask him what the hammer was for. Apparently they have been down the mines today searching for crystals. They have had quite a successful day. He is heading to Big Bear Lake and offers us a lift (it was his vehicle we saw about half a mile back). I wondered how many beers he had consumed so said thanks but we already had a lift organised from the highway (which was true as Erica had arranged a trail Angel pick up at 6.30pm).

💦 With a mile to go I decide that I really do not need three litres of water. Why on earth am I carrying this much extra weight. Just as we start to empty my bottles and feed the trees Goblin said “I need water!” We all look over to him as the last drop plops out onto the ground. “ only joking” he said with a cheeky grin.

🚗 6.30pm - A fantastic trail Angel called Jacob collects all five of us in his car. His has a cooler attached to a trailer at the back and gives us all ice cold drinks. He’s such a lovely man and he obviously enjoyed hearing tales of the trail. He drops Joey, Erica and Gobion off at Motel 6 which is just outside of town and then me and DinkyDi get dropped off at the Sierra Blue Suites where we both have our own room booked for two nights. (A big thanks to Becca, Sue & Debby for your PCT donation which helped pay for the room tonight, it’s pure heaven).

🍕 8.15pm - We are all settled in and nip outside to grab a pizza. DinkyDi and I are both shattered but we know we need to eat. I order a medium ham and pineapple pizza and a hot chocolate (thanks to Emily for your donation). It was the best pizza I’ve ever eaten. I never thought I would ever crave for salad but the crisp lettuce with ranch dressing was devoured in seconds.

🛌 9pm - I fall into the massive Queen sized bed and before I know it, I’m fast asleep.

Thank you so much for reading my rambles. It’s been an adventure that’s for sure!Read more