Day 15: Fuller Ridge to 4 Mi before the "Fountain"
Fuller Ridge wasn't as bad as all the rumors, though I did land on my bum once. The first 5 miles I hiked up more for a "descent" then I ever had, kindof ironic. The next 10 were all downhill. Fuller took us a little longer than we had hoped so we only made it the 15 today. Camped in a windy spot on a switchback. It was a 20 mile stretch (in total) descending 10,000 ft. Crazy.
Day 16: 4 miles before the "Fountain" to 100 feet before the old Hatchery
Hot, Hot, Dry day. The first 4 down took longer than expected. Then we had a 1 mile road walk and then accross the sands we went. We caught up with Nargles and Photon and Bread Bag and Tess, then Laura & Yardsale caught up under the overpass. We had some pops the PCTA trail crew had left for us...very refreshing. Then we made a hot slow climb back up out of the floor. Was really slow until the sun went down, then Steph bolted like lightning and picked up some good speed for the end of the day.
We hiked past lots of windmills for wind power. We'd be seeing those even into the next day.
Day 17: Fist Hatchery to 5 mi Past Bunches of Streams
It's Mother's Day! Got to talk with my mom (Steph). But when I got down the hill I lost reception so we couldn't get Will's mom. Will and I hiked the first 2/3 rds on our own and then did a cool climb in the early evening (after lunch) together.
A great end of day walking next to streams a little taste of what we can expect in the future.
Day 18: 5 miles past Bunches of Streams to Ridge Top: 16 miles
Lots of climbing but nothing too serious. We tagged teamed with lots of people today , The Amigos, Germanator, Yak, Jared and others. We all had our eyes on BigBear for another hot meal...
We ended up camping near the top of the ridge (just over one side). The wind was brutal but we found a little place that seemed pretty sheltered. Made camp for the night with the 3 Amigos.
Day 19: Ridgetop to 4 mi past Hwy 18 (20 miles)
Steph's feet are definitely doing better. Though we both put in a long day. We saw all types of terrain and even some sort of a zoo where we got real close to bears, a tiger, and a panther--no joke.
Coming into BigBear/Hwy 18 there was lots of trail propaganda (ie- fruit, juice, water, pop, gatorade, etc.) All put out by the local hotels offering rides and what not. Seeing where we were on the trail we decided to finish the loop around Big Bear Lake and go into Big Bear once we are finished tomorrow.
Day 20: Hiked about 4 miles to VanDusen Canyon Road
We lucked out and Eric the Black (PCT '07) was dropping people off at the trail so he gave us a ride into town. We found a place with a hottub and cheap hiker rates and decided to stay...2 nights and wait for Spic N Span to catch up so we could all hike out together.
Will got the largest Burrito I've ever seen and the Owner said he was the first person she ever saw finish it. We got a picture of it so you can all see the rediculousness. Lounged around and Hot Tubbed for the rest of the evening. Went to the Post Office where they put us up on their PCT Hiker wall.
Day 21: Zero in Big Bear
Got some food to get us to Aqua Dulce. Also got some fresh Strawberries and Ice Cream we'll be hitting that up soon. Spic N Span should be in any time now and we'll head out for one last meal and then hopefully pull 20 tomorrow. We're attempting to make it to Aqua Dulce in 10 days, which means averaging 18/day. I think with our newly rested feet and backs that we can do it.
Until we can blog again hope to hear from all of you! Will & Steph
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