Day 30 04/17 300

Mileage: 20.3
Camp: 301.9

It got cold in the middle of the night. I woke up around two or three and my sleeping bag was covered in ice. The inside of my bag was dry and the sky was still clear, so I went back to sleep.
In the morning when the sun rose I was surprised to find not only was I coated in ice but my pack was too.
My water tube and boots ( wet from yesterday's snow) had frozen solid. It must have been the condensation from the stream right by us. Everything got covered in dew, which had then frozen. I was glad I had cowboy camped and didn't have to mess with drying off my tent.
I watched the sun light up the hill above us and inch closer to our camp. As soon as it did I hung my sleeping bag over the steel bars of the horse corral to thaw and dry.
I sat in silence on the picnic table and closed my eyes. I could feel the sun's radiant warmth on my skin.
Last night was cold. I definitely need to look into getting proper long underwear. Either that or a better down bag.
Dan started to stir and then Joe. They slowly got up and hung their bags next to mine. They wanted to know why I was sitting barefoot on the table. The ground hadn't thawed yet; neither had my shoes. They both carried flip flops for camp. I didn't want the extra weight and had gotten by without them. They would have been nice this morning, but Joe's boots dried the quickest so I put on his size 14's and clomped around in them like clown shoes while we packed up camp.
After each taking a turn in the completely overbuilt solar powered fortress of a toilet some boy scout troop had constructed (SO NICE) we booked it. We left all traces of ice behind and the snow turned into the gushing waters of Holcomb Creek. We followed it and a couple river crossings later the canyon walls were getting higher and the creek getting deeper. We were coming to the head of Deep Creek. We crossed a really cool bridge that was in the middle of nowhere and would have been extremely difficult to assemble on site. From the middle of the bridge I could see fish swimming in the waters below.
We passed Dan's camp as the sun was getting low. He'd found a good spot and it didn't look like there was gonna be anywhere else decent to set up. The trail was barely two feet wide cut into the steep rock walls above the river. He thought we were nuts for wanting to keep going, but we wanted to accomplish our goal.
Soon the sun was going down, and we were chasing it along the creek. It was like a game, walking as fast as we could around each of the giant curves of the canyon. Out of the shadow and into the light, back into the shadow, will there still be light around the next bend?
We weren't stopping til we hit 20. I wanted that damn merit badge and I could tell Joe wanted it bad too.
I don't know if I've explained the merit badges of trail goddom yet. It's a running joke between Joe and I based on Boy Scout merit badges where you earn them when you beat hard-to-get goals related to thru-hiking. Ill put up a list of all the different ones soon.
Getting our 20 meant we were out of our "easing into it" stage and we'd soon be doing a lot more mileage consistently. We didn't do the AT (Appalachian Trail) before this.
In fact I did almost no physical preparation for this trip at all! That's why I figured I'd start early, take my time and ease into it to avoid getting injuries like shin splints. 300 miles later and 16 lbs lost and I'm feeling good! But neither Joe nor I started this thing out doing 20 mile days like a lot of people do.
We saw a completely oblivious skunk, who I accidentally startled when I got close to film him. Oops.

We checked our milage when it got dark enough to put our headlamps on.
20.3.
We'd made it.
Two feet wide on a cliff above a river? Sounds good.
We laid down our mats and sleeping bags and didn't walk another foot.

Day 29 04/16 Pushin 20's

Mileage: 19.6
Made Camp:281.6

I woke up at 5:45 am, I knew my Dad wasn't kidding when he said he wanted to be out the door at 6:30 on the dot. He was going to give me a ride back up to Big Bear where we would pick up Joe and Dan and hed drop us off at the trail.
My 12 year old sister who had school beat me to the shower so I snoozed it. Ten minutes later she was still in the shower so I decided to eat a little something. I had an apple and an orange. Then it was 6:12am and I was starting to get annoyed because all I wanted was two minutes of hot water before I left civilization again for a week.
I went up the stairs towel in hand, ready to say something when I heard my dad kick her out.
"Sage, get out of there now and let your brother take a shower!"
Thank God.
I'd almost given up. I was gonna stink anyway.
I took my two minutes and it was glorious. Ten minutes later I was out the door with my pack on.
My dads car was gone-
It was 6:28! I was two minutes early! I knew he had to go to work.. I'd heard him open the garage, but I thought he was just getting the car started, waiting.
I stood there for a moment. Maybe he had to get gas or something. I was about to call him when he pulled up.
With a fresh, tasty McGriddle.
I would've had granola bars.
Thanks Dad.
An hour later we had Joe and Dan in the car and we were on our way to the Cushenbury grade summit, where we had left the trail to hitch into Big Bear.
My dad dropped us off and we walked back into the woods.
Recently I'd felt like we could have been putting in more mileage each day, although I was glad to ease into the trip and we had been steadily increasing our average daily distance. I hadn't said anything to Joe though. He was a good partner, and his feet were healing up.
Not five minutes into the hike, Joe turned and says,
"So, i think I'm ready to start doing 20's."
I was immediately pumped and excited to tackle this next section to the Cajon Pass. I figured five or six days, and I'd be at home with the family for a little three day rest and visit. If we start to pull 20 mile days, well get there sooner and I might get a fourth day.
There was still a foot to two feet of snow left in a lot of places on the trail, but giving it a couple days to get sunny again made the snow really manageable and we barely spent any time postholing.
Dan, Joe and I hiked west all day along the back of the San Bernardinos until just before sundown when we came to a horse camp. It had a latrine WITH toilet paper, a metal fire ring, a stream and a picnic table!
And no horses.
We were gonna be pretty spoiled tonight.

04/14-15 Big Bear Break

In the morning I looked out the frosted windows, and everything had disappeared under a thick blanket of white. Parked cars were barely discernible lumps under the snow. I was glad to be inside.
We had made it to Big Bear just in time. It dropped at least a solid foot of snow overnight at the hostel.
When we got there we thought we might be the only hikers there. . We didn't know what to expect.
Instead when we had first walked in, ice still melting from our jackets we were surprised to see practically every early season thru-hiker within two weeks of us. Which essentially was almost everyone this far in.
We met Sandy, whod done most of the trail before and was sectioning to Agua Dulce, Franz and Greg, two thru-hikers from the East Coast, a Guy named Jeff and a guy called Salty also thru hiking, and we saw Dan from Florida and Dave again, the fast guy wed met during the storm at safe camp.
Lots of names, right?
There were also three snowboarders living there- all together we looked like a mismatched myriad of gypsies. It was really cool to talk to everyone and compare stories, where everyone had been and what they hoped to do in the future. We were all from different walks of life, but on the same mission, sharing similar hardships. We stayed up all night talking. The snow was coming down hard, and no one was going anywhere.
Now it was morning and the world seemed to be in hibernation. Only Joe and I were up, and Dan was off snowboarding. He'd managed to meet someone with an extra pass and had been here for five days living the life.
We didn't wanna go out into the snow, but the rumors of huge pancakes and breakfast portions at the Grizzly Manor called out to us like a Siren's song. I could almost hear it in the wind..
"baaacon.."
We trudged out into the empty streets yet to be cleared of snow, and reluctantly postholed a half mile to breakfast.
With this snow, no one was getting back on the trail til Monday. We'd all been through it. I think this was our fourth or fifth storm?
I was planning on leaving the trail for four days in a week or so when I got to the Cajon Pass, mile 342. My family and girlfriend Sara live closest to there and we are all anxiously awaiting the visit.
With everyone holed up at the hostel for the weekend and Joe and I also having no plans to walk out into fourteen inches of fresh snow (8 mile days) I called my Dad up. My hometown Hesperia was only 35 mins away by car.
Later in the day when the roads got cleared he drove up to get me. I got to see my Mom and Dad, my little brother and sister Marsden (10), Sage (12), my little LITTLE sister Kenzie (3) and my grandma! They were all really happy about me showing up in town a week early, even if I could only stay for a little bit. So was I.
That night I got my jeep and drove 130 miles round trip down to Anaheim to suprise my girlfriend. I didn't tell her I was coming down. I just showed up outside. It was really special to see her, even if only for a couple hours. Huge morale boost.
It killed me to leave her and drive off again, but I would see her in a little over a week and I had that to look forward to.
That Sunday I got to spend with my Grandpa, just like any of our classic Sunday's I'd spent with him growing up. We went to our favorite diner for breakfast (of course I ordered my normal in town meal- two eggs, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns, biscuits and gravy mmmm) which hit the spot. Then we went down to Rancho Cucamonga to the Bass Pro Outdoors Shop, which is am attraction in itself and is very cool to just walk around.
More goodbyes to my Grandma and Grandpa, once again I hated to say bye but I'd be back soon, for one more (planned) visit.
I laid down Sun. night in my bag where I had set my mat on the carpet in my parents living room. The extra padding of the carpet was wonderful (my mom even offered a bed although I felt like I had plenty) but I couldn't fall asleep. I thought about seeing my girlfriend and my family and how much I had missed them. It's kind of funny- as far away as I am on the trail, this is the closest I've been to my parents in years.
I was ten percent done with the trip- and I'd found out the hardest thing about the journey was missing your loved ones.
I'm meeting a lot of people on this adventure; good ones and bad ones and characters alike-but there is something about the familiarity of having your friends and family around. Don't take them for granted- you might think you don't, but it's easy to. (they're your family, they're supposed to be there for you, right?) So try your hardest not to. Because they don't HAVE to be there for you. They might not always be.

Day 28 04/13 Into Big Bear

The wind started rushing down the little canyon where we slept around 9:00 pm and didn't stop. I actually didn't sleep at all. I heard the giant trees creaking, swaying back and forth with the wind. I hoped none would come down in the middle of the night; I tried to pick a spot that was free of widowmakers- as free as possible. I wondered if Arrastre trail camp was better in the summer when the weather would be hot; or if it was always this windy and cold.
I tried everything, putting on more layers, even cracking open a hand-warmer someone gave me that I kept for a night like this. I put it in the bottom of my bag to try and warm my feet but the warmth was negligible compared to the wind. I just remember the sun coming up and being mad to see it.
It's not as fun to put decent miles in when you don't sleep.
I need a better sleeping bag, but at around 300 bucks for a decent down bag I figure the biggest change I could make to my sleep system that would give the most bang for the buck would be to get real long underwear, like some Patagonia Capeliene or some Smartwool. Everyone raves about how warm they are. I'll look into it when I get to the Cajon Pass where I can run to REI.
As I got out of my tent Joe was poking around camp looking in the bushes. Apparently he was missing pieces of his stove and a stuff sack that the wind had "stolen" in the night.
I got up quickly and found his stuff within two mins. I followed the direction of the wind and found both items on the edge of camp.
It's a game now, for me to find Joes lost stuff. I love it. I'm gonna put a list up soon of all the stuff he would of lost and the price had i not been there. Its literally been hundreds of dollars worth of gear now. That's our yin and yang.
He loses everything, and I find it. :)
We only had ten miles into Big Bear. We were out of the snow and the wind wasn't too bad, It couldn't be too hard of a day...
It got colder and windier after we left camp. I layered up and put in headphones for motivation. The wind got worse and worse until at some points it almost knocked me off my feet. Then it started snowing, but not too hard. I got a little bit of signal for the first time in days, my grandma had texted me warning me of two storms- the one we had holed up for and one we were walking right into.



It was a race to get to HWY 18 before the storm really started coming down. The ten miles felt a lot longer than they were with the wind pushing you off the trail and the snow beginning to blow sideways. Even when it wasn't snowing the ice would blow right off the trees like little bits of hail hitting you in the face.
We made it to the Cushenbury grade summit at HWY 18 were we would hitch into Big Bear just as it really got bad. As we walked up a forest ranger was there sitting in his truck. We thought we got lucky and wouldn't have to try and hitch. He backed his truck up to us as we came down off the trail to the road.
The winds were now 50+ at this saddle where the road was. It was the first time on the trip I could lean into the wind and it would hold me up.
He unrolled his window long enough to say "Big Bear's that way"- and took off.
Another guy let us crouch behind his truck so we could check our maps real quick in the wind- when Joe went back up to his window to say thank you he sped off.



We were not going to get a ride! Car after car passed us by as we stood there with our thumbs out, my clothes whipping like a flag in the wind. I thought out of all people, the forest ranger would understand our situation! Maybe it was policy, I don't know.
Finally two vehicles that had passed us by came back- two ladies going to a christian ladies retreat. They only had room for one of us in each vehicle, but they would get us into town.
Turns out the lady giving me a ride (Becky Barrett-Smith) was an author, had had written a book on coming to God and salvation. She said they never EVER pick up hitchhikers, but they didn't like the idea of us having to stand out there in the cold.
That amazed me. All of the people that passed us by, and these two ladies with cars packed FULL of food pulled over, discussed picking us up and busted a U on a high mountain road in a snowstorm. Just to do something nice.
There are actually good people still left in this world.
As we made it closer to town, the snow really started coming down hard. They got us right where we needed to be. We thanked them and walked into the safety of the hostel for the night and out of the storm.

That last picture down below, right in the middle you see a little orange and blue right where the shadow meets the light. That's me, holding up Joe's $200+ down jacket. He loses, I find. :)

Day 27 04/12 Safe Camp to Arrastre

We slept in as late as we could (8:00am) and began to pack. My tent was soaked in condensation so I laid it out in anticipation of the sun breaking through the trees. When it did, it was joyous... It was truly a beautiful thing to see after such a drab and miserable day holed up in the tent.
I sat and ate happily and let the sun warm my bones. I could feel the heat warming me at my core and I wanted to soak up every last minute of it. I didn't know if the storm was over or if this was just a lull. I could still see clouds whisking by on the edge of the saddle where our camp was.
I hadn't had signal in days, at least since Idyllwild and it was really beginning to wear on me. Not talking to family or Sara for a few days wasn't bad, but going day after day with absolutely no communication sucked. I didn't even have any way to confirm they were getting the OK messages from my GPS transponder. I was really beginning to miss everybody.
We packed up and headed off and even further up into the mountains. We would peak out above 9000 ft today before descending again. The plan was to divide the day into four parts and take decent breaks in between, and end up at Arrastre Trail Camp, a horse camp 16.4 miles away. We liked the horse camps, because they meant some flat ground and usually, an outhouse.
We were learning. Never pass up a public toilet. :)
To our pure and utter joy, we passed an old forest service camp at Coon Creek that we didn't know about. It had a working commode..... With toilet paper!!!
We might get two toilets in one day. Heaven.
We passed through the frost covered trees from the previous day's storm. It would break free and float down on us in the wind like fake snow. We didn't see a single person all day, and got to Arrastre trail camp just before dark. It was down in a dark canyon surrounded by massive ancient trees. Unfortunately all of the good spots had giant widow makers (dead trees that could fall or lose huge branches in the wind that could kill you in the night). I picked the trees that looked least likely to fall in the night and set up my tent.
If it didn't fall for the last twenty years, it won't fall tonight, right?
Which chances do I take, and which do I avoid? It's always about balance of risk. :)
I was a little worried about the cold air settling in the night, we were low in a canyon and it was already cold enough. I didn't worry too much though. There was another fire ring, and the wind hadn't picked up. I set up my tent and built a fire just as the sun went down.

By the way, I was an idiot and skipped the "restroom" at Coon Creek. (I didn't have to go!)
There was none at Arrastre.
All of you at home, you're lucky.
I envy you.
You and your toilets. :)

Day 26 04/11 Zero at Safe Camp

I was half asleep in my bag at six in the morning when the first rays of light should have been bursting through the trees. Instead I awoke to an odd sound, like sand being sprinkled on my tent.
I snapped awake.
It was snowing.
I immediately checked to make sure nothing was wet. Thank god it hadn't rained any in the night. We were above 7000, but when I'd gone to bed there were no clouds!
I practically jumped out of my sleeping bag and scrambled to pull the rainfly over my tent. The snow changed to little balls of ice that stung your skin in the wind. I ran over and shook Joe's tent to see what he wanted to do.
We agreed to go back to sleep and wait it out another hour or so. I was ok with that. It's one thing if you're hiking in a storm, you keep going til you find safe camp or water. We had both.
And it was COLD.
So cold in fact that when I woke up in another hour and a half my water bladder was frozen solid inside my tent. The wind was howling outside. I opened the tent and saw clouds moving through with no signs of slowing. We hadn't had signal in days and we had no idea if it would last a couple hrs, or a couple days. With no way to check the weather, we decided to keep an eye on it and see how it played out.
It went on all day.
I tried to sleep as much as I could, listened to music for a while, anything to distract myself from going nuts. Which I was, a little bit. I had no desire to take a zero day, and it killed me to be sitting in the tent during daylight when I wanted to be moving. However the ten miles ahead of us would bring us only higher than we were, up to 9000+. The snow wasn't bad, but with the wind and it being below freezing, we felt it would be a stupid decision to march off into the storm. I really wished I had signal, just to hear a familiar voice.
Halfway through the day I was almost out of water and going stir crazy so I got out of my tent and woke Joe up to get water from the dripping spring behind camp.
It ended up being almost completely frozen with just a little flow left. I filled up with ice cold mountain spring water and we got back in the tents ASAP. It was almost too cold to drink so I made soup to hydrate and went back to sleep.
Riding out that storm really wasn't fun. I kept having bad dreams about missing out on things at home and I kept wondering what everyone was up to while I laid there isolated in my tent.
Eventually it died down, right about six p.m. Too late to start hiking for the day, but just enough light left to get out and stretch and take some pictures. A hiker named Dave came into our camp, cold and exhausted from the climb up Mission Creek. He was happy to see other people, and so were we after a day in the tent with no stimulation.
We took advantage of the break in the weather and dried our rainflys. Joe looked like a monster under his trying to untangle so I snapped a photo before he found his way out. We made fire in a fire ring there and stayed out long after dark just to talk and be out of the tents. That was a real morale boost, to have that heat.
I wondered about how for thousands of years my ancestors before me sat in front of a fire for warmth, comfort and food. Staring into the fire, telling our stories and letting it warm our bones...there was almost a primal feeling about it.

Day 25 04/10 Going Back Up

Watching the sunset light up the clouds over San Jacinto last night from the San Bernardino foothills was something incredible. We cowboy camped off the trail in the bottom of a sandy wash, the only flat spot we could find.
As I laid there looking at the stars and the clouds like paint swatches over the nighttime sky I thought of how much things have changed for me.
I never feared bugs, just didn't like them. Now they didn't bother me at all. I had ants and a dragonfly on me during the night and I just flicked them off and went back to sleep.
I no longer felt I needed the security of my tent walls. It's now more a pain to set it up and take it down than to just camp without it if the weather's good.
There's nothing like sleeping under the stars.
Its almost as good as hearing your friend get loved on by a deer.
We climbed through a long HOT canyon with a creek meandering through it as we began the ascent that would eventually lead back into the clouds. We crossed the creek at least ten times following it upstream as the desert scrub turned back into cedar and pine. We were probably the only two people for miles around.
We arrived at a camp with a spring near the back ( BONUS!!) as the sun went down and we decided to set up camp. It was safe and for once there was no shortage of flat spots.
We were so tired we went to bed without getting water. We each had enough.
We'd get in the morning.