6/7/2023
Section: Mile post 266.1 to 285.6
Distance: 19.18 Miles
Moving Time: 07:38 hrs
Elevation Gain: 2,052 ft
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Minimal elevation gain today made for maximum distance. The trail heads in a true western direction on this stage as it skirts north of Big Bear and within the San Bernardino National Forest.
Amanda and I were up at 6 taking final showers and organizing our things. At 8 we were ready and headed out the door down to the post office where we shipped our shoes and the broken watch back to my parents. John met us at the parking lot and at 9 am sharp Tink showed up. It should be noted that the trail angel who gave us sandwiches two days before was called Momma Tinkan and that’s who we thought we were getting a ride from. Funny thing is that this Tink was actually the woman that gave us a ride into town on that same day. These two women were completely unaware of each other or their same names. Tink made the slow, windy way out Big Bear on Highway 18 as we told her all the places we visited while in town. She chatted along until we were up to the pass and she turned to let us out at the trailhead. We each gave her 5 bucks and she thanked us before leaving. We told John we were sure we would see him again and he headed off into the trees. Amadna and I had a quick snack and did our warm-ups before putting on our backpacks, tightening our new shoes and heading off after him.
The day was pleasantly warm - not too hot or buggy. The trail was a dream, probably the best maintained section of trail we had been on the whole way so we made great time. We progressed west and eventually stopped for a quick snack about 7 miles in. The shoes were running just as dreamily as the trail. I did some minor adjustments but nothing too major. The Altras have an oversized toe box which addressed the only issue I had with my Hoka Speedgoats - that my little toe was getting subducted under the rest of the toes and I was getting minor blisters between my toes. The Altras seemed to have all the strengths of the Speedgoats without compromising on any other front. I was loving them.
We continued on another 6 miles and got a chance to get water. I broke out the Sawyer filter and immediately realized i had been missing out. I loved the old pump but new designs and features definitely come with some wins. The system worked beautifully in addition to being a quarter of the weight of the old pump. All I had to do was fill a 1 liter bladder with dirty water and squeeze it through the filter straight into our water bladders - easy peezy. We went on, and came around a corner as a large brown dog ran up to us. After sniffing our hands it ran back up the trail and about 2 minutes later two trail runners came up the trail in a slow jog. These weren’t just ordinary trail runners though - one had a chainsaw and the other had a pair of limb snips. They were trail maintenance runners - running from blowdown to blowdown, cleaning the trail while also getting yoked! Amanda and I both smiled and thanked them for cleaning up. After they were out of earshot i joked to Amanda “Isn’t that the the exact definition of running with scissors?” She laughed and we carried on.
Eventually the trail delivered us into a small valley where our campsite was located - called Little Bear Springs. There we found a composting toilet and a nice clear spot under some tall trees where John had already parked for the night. We talked to him for a while about the good weather and strange absence of other hikers today, then Amanda and I set about our normal choirs. We had pouch salmon from Sandy and Ray as well as Idaho Potatoes before cleaning up and heading to bed. As I lay in bed I realized, after about 5 planes had gone overhead, that we were sleeping under the LAX approach path and that was going to make for a fun night.
