Day 22 - Early Exit to Big Bear
(Warning - this post contains some foul language. This is unfiltered, hangry Elinor. Enjoy.)
Fucking spork lost, along with water treatment and toothbrush, toothpaste and floss. I go back for it to last water. 1.3 miles. Nothing. Find it and the hat I thought I lost all in the bottom of my pack. At least I have it, but I feel damn stupid for going back for it. Lots of hikers pass us as I'm going back. Pretty much everyone we were near is ahead now.
I need to bring more food next time. Ate my morning oatmeal, hungry soon after and I'm low on snacks. I'm thinking about ways to trim weight from my pack. Umbrella has not been useful enough for it's weight. Too much wind. Going to cut extra tags and straps off my pack and everything else. Maybe mail ahead mid layers of warmth, trekking poles straps, compass. It feels too heavy and I don't have much food left.
Kept taking breaks, so slow today. We stop at some point and realize we need to get off the trail. Rationing food is leaving us too tired to hike, it would be better to take an early exit to Big Bear, then come back.
We met Easy from Ireland, he had been hiking with Stephanie when she passed our camp. He's going to camp tonight at the spring and take an early exit into Big Bear tomorrow. I'm thinking about food; pop tarts, tacos, Indian food. All the food.
Mouse and I debate which exit to take. I want to go to one 12 miles down the trail where the trail is close to the highway. Mouse talks me into taking a dirt road that leads down to Heart Bar Campground. 7 miles to a highway, most of it on dirt road. More extra miles. It turned out to be a nice dirt road, not hard packed and actually called the Santa Ana Trail.
At the road, I tried to get a hitch for 30 minutes before a couple in a tiny car with a huge pitbull in the back pulled over. They said if we could fit, they'd give us a ride. The man was named Boston and I missed his wife's name, and the dog named Blue. We squeezed in, with our packs in our laps and Blue between us and in my leg. Sweet Blue gave us both lots of kisses, trying to clean the sweat and dirt off our faces and my legs. Boston dropped his wife off at their house and drove us to the grocery store, Stater Brothers. We did our resupply there and took the bus to Motel 6 for the night. Stater Brothers is great. I bought my favorite granola bar in bulk, Mouse resupplied for $15 with a 48 pack box of poptarts, a big container of oatmeal and a jar of peanut butter. My resupply cost more, but had way more variety. They had vegan food, too! I got some Daiya cheese and Morningstar corn dogs.
Fucking spork lost, along with water treatment and toothbrush, toothpaste and floss. I go back for it to last water. 1.3 miles. Nothing. Find it and the hat I thought I lost all in the bottom of my pack. At least I have it, but I feel damn stupid for going back for it. Lots of hikers pass us as I'm going back. Pretty much everyone we were near is ahead now.
I need to bring more food next time. Ate my morning oatmeal, hungry soon after and I'm low on snacks. I'm thinking about ways to trim weight from my pack. Umbrella has not been useful enough for it's weight. Too much wind. Going to cut extra tags and straps off my pack and everything else. Maybe mail ahead mid layers of warmth, trekking poles straps, compass. It feels too heavy and I don't have much food left.
Kept taking breaks, so slow today. We stop at some point and realize we need to get off the trail. Rationing food is leaving us too tired to hike, it would be better to take an early exit to Big Bear, then come back.
We met Easy from Ireland, he had been hiking with Stephanie when she passed our camp. He's going to camp tonight at the spring and take an early exit into Big Bear tomorrow. I'm thinking about food; pop tarts, tacos, Indian food. All the food.
Mouse and I debate which exit to take. I want to go to one 12 miles down the trail where the trail is close to the highway. Mouse talks me into taking a dirt road that leads down to Heart Bar Campground. 7 miles to a highway, most of it on dirt road. More extra miles. It turned out to be a nice dirt road, not hard packed and actually called the Santa Ana Trail.
At the road, I tried to get a hitch for 30 minutes before a couple in a tiny car with a huge pitbull in the back pulled over. They said if we could fit, they'd give us a ride. The man was named Boston and I missed his wife's name, and the dog named Blue. We squeezed in, with our packs in our laps and Blue between us and in my leg. Sweet Blue gave us both lots of kisses, trying to clean the sweat and dirt off our faces and my legs. Boston dropped his wife off at their house and drove us to the grocery store, Stater Brothers. We did our resupply there and took the bus to Motel 6 for the night. Stater Brothers is great. I bought my favorite granola bar in bulk, Mouse resupplied for $15 with a 48 pack box of poptarts, a big container of oatmeal and a jar of peanut butter. My resupply cost more, but had way more variety. They had vegan food, too! I got some Daiya cheese and Morningstar corn dogs.
Comments
Post a Comment