Big Bear to Wrightwood – The Trek

Zero day in Big Bear! What a great feeling. I got up and made pancakes and bacon breakfast for all 15 hikers. We got some fruit as well, it was quite the feast. There were bodies all over the place from all the crazy sleeping locations. It was just such a nice morning hanging out and laughing. Everyone hit the town and did resupply then we all came back and ate dinner at the house and hung out.

The bubble leaving Big Bear

After the great zero in Big Bear, hated to get out of bed because I knew I would be back out on trail again for 5 days before another resupply. It was a pretty good hiking day though. Pretty flat or downhill for a lot of the way. Managed to hike ~20 miles. Plan is to make it to the hot springs tomorrow which is something like 23 miles away.

Heading to Hot Springs

Nice hiking through this section

Hot Springs

The next day, got out of camp around 6:00. Had a very nice morning hike, saw lots of beautiful birds. One striking large blue one and a really pretty wood pecker I have never seen before. After about 6 or 7 miles, the trail ran parallel to beautiful Deep creek. Met up with the bubble and took a dip in the creek along with lunch. The large bubble of people left and as I was packing a small group of hikers came in that I have been seeing and talking with. The guy in the group decided to skinny dip. That wasn’t so bad but what is bad is he just stood there naked as we were talking. It was very awkward. The second half of the day was grooling. It was extremely hot and I was delirious trying to knock the final 6 miles out of a 23 mile day. Finally made it to the hot springs. What a great place, I alternated between cold water and hot water for about an hour. And of course a local couple had to show up and get in the hot spring naked. What is it about today. Same situation as before, the guy just stood there talking naked. Again very awkward but pretty funny watching the reaction of some of my friends. Found a nice camp site by the creek, the white noise made for a great nights sleep.

Deep Creek was really nice

It was so nice to sit and soak in the hot springs after a long day of hiking.

Silverwood Lake and McDonalds

The original plan for today was to only do 18.5 miles to a public picnic area on a lake but when we got there it looked like a dump. Trash and toilets were over flowing. It’s too bad because the lake is beautiful. Another thing I noticed that was disturbing was the graffiti on the rocks. I don’t understand why people would do that. So anyway, decided to do another 3 miles to the Silverwood lake campground. It was a good move. Some section hikers friends were there and ordered some pizza and cokes. Had a great feast even though it was very cold and windy out. The winded howled so loud I had to put in ear plugs to sleep.

Hit the 300 mile mark

Lots of beautiful flowers along the hike

More flowers

The next morning we had about 14 miles to get to a crossroad that has a McDonald’s. As one can imagine the bubble gang was very excited. About 15 really hungry hikers took over the place. Backpacks were everywhere. There was some epic throw down. If you had McDonald’s stock you probably would have seen a little bump that day from high sales. Packed out an extra bacon quarter pounder for dinner and a beer that a trail angel brought. Also grabbed some mini doughnuts for in the morning. Another good night! Tomorrow heading into Wrightwood for a zero.

Silverwood Lake

Leaving McDonald’s under the overpass

Wrightwood

This morning we had a 9 mile walk to a dirt fire road, then another 2 mile walk along the road to catch a ride into town. I was in a fog the whole way…literally. Couldn’t see more that about 100 feet. The hike was uphill the whole way so I settled in and just listened to music the whole way. I’ve forgotten how good the Heart album “Dream Boat Annie” is. Great reconnecting with it. I have a bunch of albums downloaded that I listen to when I get bored of walking. By the time we made it to our ride it was freezing. Felt so good to get in a warm car. Our bubble continues to grow, we now have about 20 people and spread over 3 houses. My bed is in the laundry room tonight. It’s kind of crazy but a lot of fun. People are so happy to be in town and getting clean. My clothes were so nasty since it’s been a week since they have been washed. We past the 300 mark this week and are close to being half way to Kennedy Meadows and entering the Sierras

The bubble is a assembled at the ABNB

Wrightwood is such an awesome hiker town. Free hotdogs from the local service station

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