Pacific Crest Trail - Day 33

Start: Mile 266.1 - Highway 18 crossing
End: Mile 280.5 - Backcountry campsite

Breakfast at the Grizzly Manor Cafe - a world class little diner. We had most of a 12 pack of Pacifico and a Buzz Ball that we were going to put in the cooler at the trailhead, but gave them to the cook at the Grizzly Manor instead. He seemed pretty stoked and we were stoked to start the day fueled by perfect French toast.

Views of the Mojave Desert east of Victorville. The PCT cuts west along the San Bernardino Mountains before heading north to Tehachapi so unfortunately (thankfully) we’ll miss walking directly across the Mojave on foot.

Kristin and I have fully embraced the desert.

🌵😎

Flora and fauna. The desert in bloom is beautiful.

Our water source for the day.

Passed a couple of hiker Daleks on a climb.

Mount Baden-Powell is the snow-capped peak. It’s just after Wrightwood - our destination for this stretch - 100 miles away.

This winter we stopped by June Lake Brewing Company in June Lake, CA and overheard the bartender refer to the Grocery Outlet in Mammoth, CA as the “Gross Out”. We picked up these meat sticks along with a bunch of other potentially questionable trail snacks at the Gross Out in Big Bear and they were decidedly edible, delicious even.

This little guy was singlehandedly trying to peck off big branches from this tree.

Where we started the day - Big Bear Lake, CA

A few hundred miles into the trail and you start seeing footprints like the matrix. Like seeing someone in jeans, you know you’re close to a trailhead when you start seeing shallow rippled footprints.

Chocolate on my face from some esoteric soon to be expired snack bar from Gross Out.

The PCT is just a walk in the woods (yeah, right)