Tuesday, May 13, 2008

May 13: Big Bear

Last night was cold!! This was the first night we know it got below freezing. The ice in water bottles was a clue. Luckily our sleeping bags do good at keeping us warm. And once we were out of sleeping bags we quickly wanted to get walking. It stayed quite cold and even when the sun began to hit us, the winds kept the chill on. Then the winds picked up. It can be very windy in these desert section. And we were being blown all over. Luckily we were heading to town. I can feel my calories per mile go down in a strong head wind.

We cruised to the road by 10:30am and enjoyed some cold sodas. A few places to stay in town brought water, sodas, and treats to advertise where to stay in town. Pretty clever idea! Although I enjoyed a Jones Cream soda from the Motel 6 we ended up staying at the Big Bear Hostel.

The Hostel has only been open a few months and is great. We only had a couple blocks walk to restaurants, a post office, a movie theater - all kinds of stuff. This is probably why some other hikers are on there 3rd night here. We hopped a bus to the grocery store, which was fun because the driver was more like a tour guide and she was quite fond of the ski resort where Shawn White grew up learing to snowboard. We plan to get back to the trail in the morning after hitting the post office.

Total Milage: 265.3
Today's milage: 9.4
Camp 16: Big Bear Hostel

4 comments:

pk said...

Are you guys open to new trail names? If so I think Ant Farm is a pretty stinkin' good one.

What have you guys been going by so far?

Josh Jackson said...

hey...glad you got the package...we're in idyllwild today, just got here. trail is still closed so we fricken walked on the road...all 18 miles. what a bitch! but knowing you guys did it a week ago made all the difference. :) we see your names everywhere...so fun to see you in all the journals!!! taking a zero here tomorrow...julie needs to see a dr. about her foot...it looks NASTY. hope its not fractured...shes been doing a fast hobble for the last 40 miles!! we hiked with some FAST guys yesterday..they may catch you by the sierras. i only say this so you can look out for voyager and cruisin and icebags. if you run into them, ask about snakeyes and julie. :)

Josh Jackson said...

saw your picture in the gear store today!! haha! would have been so fun to spend some time hiking with you guys!!

Jess said...

PK: Up until now we have been going by Mark and Jess. Mark actually just yesterday decided to go with AntFarm...so glad you think it's a good one. Still working on one for me. We'll post about it as soon as it happens.

Hope you guys are doing well...oh, and we are hiking with a cell phone...but only turn it on in towns to call parents or connect with hotels/trail angels, etc. We'd love to get a message from you though! Hopefully we can give you guys a brief call sometime to catch up. We think of you two a lot!