Big Bear to Cedar Glenn

Tim dropped us off at highway 18 outside Big Bear and we got back on trail. Late start today so we’re only looking to get 12-14 miles in.

It’s looking like a handful of miles of ascent followed by some pointless ups and downs before we get to camp. Sevens leading and he’s setting a fast pace. I see him in the distance, I don’t really track my miles per mile. His watch beeps every mile, I see him sip water every mile and that’s my mental note.

After two miles it’s a land slide of skree. Wobbly ankles across it and we’re back onto nice hard ground.

As we hit mile 5 I say hmm we have to be near some water by now. And boom, there it is. Delicious, cold, not rice flavored filtered spring water. With that, I also crushed a Lady Gala apple. I picked it up the day before at Vons. Shocking 1.83$.

After filling up 2.5 liters, we’re back on feet. Tonight will be a dry camp which means there is no water at the camp site. So I bring enough to boil pasta, drink, and waste some brushing my teeth.

We get to a flat spot that looks nice and set up shop. There’s a spot a little bit away but it’s on a slope. So we tuck in tight and make do.

There’s significant wind coming in tonight and we grab some rocks to make sure our stakes are sunk in good. We eat dinner, stretch, dig tomorrow’s mornings cat holes and then just shoot the shit. Tomorrow AM we push on to Cedar Glenn, we are planning on hitting the Malt Shop and Seven wants to do a light resupply before we hit Deep Creek Hot Springs.

We wake up at about 6AM, the wind ended up being normal wind. 25mph gusts. I wake n bake and crush breakfast. Two things I usually skip, but I need the energy today. I tell Seven “you hike fast bud, I’m leaving I’ll see ya in 20 minutes when you catch up.” He laughs and says “I’ll see you in 6 hours.” We mainly leap frog each other all day. He takes a break I pass him, I take a break he’ll pass me. Well stop for lunch and chat and then disappear again. It’s peaceful to be alone, but also sometimes sketchy.

I start walking through a beautiful pine forest, if I had a dollar for every time I say “wow this is beautiful” I’d be funding this trip first class. My phone bings, I have service. Time to text my dad, my sister and my friends.

Today is my sister’s birthday. Happy Birthday Danielle!

She’s a big inspiration for me hiking. I remember her going to do Mt Hood when I was like in college. Before I ever backpacked. Her and my brother in law have been tracking my location, catching me sometimes going the wrong way and texting me about it. She must’ve been busy yesterday because Seven and I hiked two miles in the wrong direction before we said “hmm why are we seeing day hikers? We haven’t seen anyone on trail in days.” We doubled back and realized hmmm we’re are stupid! We took a left instead of staying straight. We were looping back to Big Bear haha.

My friends text me telling me to shut up, I sent them a 3 minute snap chat video yesterday on how to poop in the woods. Arguably, I thought it was a solid video. They’re sick of me, I believe it too. I’m sick of my self sometimes. Maybe I’ll do a post about how to poop in the woods….hmm

Cedar Glenn is just about 21 miles away. Today’s a long day and I’m ready for it. Two Rice Krispies treats, a bag of beef jerky and the usual snickers bar in my pocket that need to get me till Little Bear Spring.

As I get to Little Bear Spring I say to my self. Damn what a time to not have to poop. It’s an outdoor privy or pit toilet with no roof and amazing views of the mountains.

It was probably one of the best smelling privys I’ve been in too. Smelt like clean mountain air, with a hint of poop. Now I know where Fabreeze gets their ideas.

I push on from mile 285 hoping to get to 298 shortly. From camp to here was roughly 8 miles, I have a ways to go. I stop in a mile and filter more water, I force my self to carry 2 liters at all times. I’m still working on staying hydrated and I am tryin for “prep” for long water carries in the desert.

We bump into an 18 year old Belgian hiker named Arthur filtering water. He’s here alone, left the southern terminus the day after we did and is trying to do the trail as cheap as possible. This kids an inspiration, can’t even legally drink here but he’s out crushing something us old guys dreamed about for years. Politics and bullshit, he didn’t care he was coming to crush the PCT. And the craziest thing he’s doing it like it’s 1990. He’s going off just the past water reports and not using the FarOut app. Wild.

We finally hit the wooden bridge. It’s quite the site to see, as we walk across I check the FarOut app to see if we go left or right. Rights to Canada, left is to Cedar Glenn via Splinters Cabin. We get to the junction and hang the left, Sevens craving a burger and I’m surly not against one. We say we’ll see ya tomorrow Arthur and let him know our next 2-3 day plans.

As we continue on up towards Splinters Cabin we realize it’s 1.6 miles up a brutal road walk. We really couldn’t even find the actual trail. So we road walked it, we finally get to Gate 3 and I call the Cedar Glenn Malt Shop. I ask the person who answers the phone if they’d be willing to pick us up at Gate 3 and we’d love to be patrons of their restaurant. The girl says sure let me see if someone’s free and then says give us 10 minutes.

Seven and I start the road walk and stop at a random house, I notice they have a Bridgeport outside and an old GTO. Dude can we be friends?

A minute later a Toyota Rav 4 pulls up. Driver says his English is minimal. Both Seven and I maybe speak Spanish shockingly, we jump right in and take the 5 minute drive to the malt shop.

We sit down, plug in our electronics and order burgers. I drink 4 sprites waiting and when it arrives I absolutely crush my burger. I personally think that was the best burger of the trip so far. Seven orders a second burger and a Caesar salad for the road.

It’s now 6PM and arguably too late to get back on trail after a resupply. Seven says his feet are killing him also. We start chatting with the lovely family in the booth next to us and they say they will give us a ride to the local motel when they finish dinner. The closest spot was the “Tree Top Lodge” 70$ a night.

We jump into Mike’s truck and he drives us to the Lodge and shows us the small town. There’s a 7/11 that looks nothing like a 7/11. I dig that. He tells us the family was originally from San Diego and moved to Austin TX a few years ago. After Covid shook up the world like most of us, they rethought where they wanted to be and moved to Lake Arrowhead. Mike said he was a tennis pro and ran the local tennis club. He honestly he looked like it. Tennis is a hell of a sport and will keep you in shape. I tell him about how I played inter-murals in college and lost 4 years in a row to the same kid. Ooof I’m still salty about that. After my hike I’ll have to come back and take a lesson with Mike.

We check into the lodge and get ready for bed. It’s a short stay and we’re back on trail 6AM tomorrow. We’re shooting for a noontime hot springs!