Day 30 (1 May) - Mile 266.00 - 279.98

Big Bear Lake to 1.49 miles North of Holcomb Valley Road (2N09), CA

I set the alarm last night to wake us at 5:30 am so we would have time to go to the Grizzly Manor for their famous pancakes. Needless to say, the alarm went off, but I wasn't going to get up. Plus, I was still full from the pizza we ate at 9 pm last night. 

The plan today is to catch the ride from the hostel back to the trail at 8:30 am and then hike 15 miles. Well...we did catch the ride, but we didn't quite make the 15 miles, but there was a good reason. 

Anyway, we started the hike feeling good after 1 1/2 days of rest.

Feeling good. 

However, we were a little apprehensive on this new mileage goal. We set off hiking and went over 5 miles before taking a break because we didn't know if we would be able to get all these miles in if we took all the breaks we were taking on the 10 mile days. 

I did, however, manage to get some nifty pictures:

Old gold mine on the side of the mountain. 

Jeeps going by on a jeep road that crosses the PCT. 

Very rocky trail. Luckily it didn't last. 

Then, after 11 miles of hiking we went around a bend and saw the view of Big Bear Lake, where we just stayed. It was kind of crazy to see where we left after hiking 11 miles. It kind of makes us feel like we aren't getting anywhere. 

The Big Bear Hostel is right there!

Zoomed in.

The reason we should be able to get 15 miles in now is that this next 5 day stretch has only 614 feet per day average climbing. This is compared to 2 or 3 times that much in the past. With less climbing we should be able to average 2 miles per hour. So, in only 7.5 hours we should be able to cover 15 miles.

An easy part of the trail. 

Today we made it 14 miles although we could have made it to 15. The reason we stopped is that there was no campsite listed until the 19 mile point. Once we hit 13.5 miles we decided to start looking for a place to pitch the tent. At 14 miles we found the perfect spot. We considered going on and hoping to find another one closer to the 15 mile point, but it was coming on to 6 pm and I wasn't feeling like taking the chance of not finding a spot till 7 pm and then having to cook and eat dinner in the dark. So, we stopped. Tomorrow there is a designated campsite right at 14.6 miles, so we will be inching even closer to the 15 mile mark.

The perfect flat spot.