Pacific Crest Trail - Day 31

Start: Mile 256.2
End: Mile 266.1 - Highway 18 crossing

Realized at the tent icon on the right that I left my fanny pack back at the tent icon on the left. Fuck.

Yep.

What began as an easy 10 miles to burgers and beers in Big Bear turned into 16 with six bonus miles.

After an emotionally and physically rough ~50 miles and realizing I left my pack back at camp I literally said out loud “I don’t think I can mentally go back for it.”

I went back for it, ditching my pack for a single trekking pole and a bottle of water.

Hiking pack-less uphill for 2.5 miles and running back down I realized at 39, I’m in better shape than I was when I ran cross country in high school, which is to say the best shape of my life.

I had a nerdy moment running back down now wearing my fanny pack, holding a trekking pole point forward at my side feeling like I was in the opening scene of The Two Towers tracking down day-hikers like Uruk-hai.

(You should probably watch the extended editions of all three Lord of the Rings movies back-to-back at some point in the near future, btw.)

Joshua Trees are so cool.

We came across a murder.

The landscape outside of Big Bear looks just like the hills near Geiger Summit outside Virginia City, NV. We used to make mountain bike trails that looked exactly like this.

Interesting to see a Joshua Tree in a P&J (Pinyon and Juniper) forest.

Found some ultralight analog pornography in the bathroom at Murray’s in Big Bear Lake, CA.