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.
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