Back to hiking after a day of R&R in Big Bear. Maniac, Alpaca and I were driven back to highway 18 by Shauna, a nice young lady who will be starting out herself from Campo soon.
Alpaca gave me the trail name “happy hour” after I rounded up a bunch of hikers for the sushi happy hour at the Japanese place a block from the hostel. I think it fits, and it reminds me of one of my favorite activities with Cathy.
Made 20 miles today to Holcomb Creek. Some nice views of Big Bear Lake from the ridge north of it. Then we crossed over to the backside of the ridge into much more arid terrain. Although still above 6500 ft, this region is more cut off from ocean breezes and much more exposed to desert winds. Much of the area appears to have burned over in the last decade or so. This is probably the fate of much of these mountains as the climate warms and dries. I wonder if hiking the PCT will even be practical in a decade.
Big Bear Lake, mi 277
Mordor walk, PCT mile 288