On Day 43 of my 2023 PCT thru hike I returned to Big Bear, to the spot last Spring where my feet failed and I gave up on my dream of hiking the entire trail, but now I was set on a new goal, to finish the Desert Section by the end of the year.
From PCT mile 251.0 to 268.6 Total: 17.6 miles 10/31
It was Halloween Day, but I wasn’t going Trick or Treating this time. The only treat that I was going to get was the gallon of water I stashed for myself near Highway 18, fifteen miles from here at the end of my day’s hike. I spent yesterday driving north from San Diego and dropping off two jugs of water to help me make it all the way to the nearest water source near Deep Creek. True, there was water available along the trail, thanks to the late Summer rain from the remnants of Hurricane Hilary, but I preferred to get pre-purified water when possible. I hate filtering water, and I had plenty of time. Vicki and I hiked this section of trail back in 2016, and we also placed two water caches. It works.
I parked the car near Onyx Summit, a short ways from the spot where I quit hiking last May, and spent the night in the back. The next morning, it was thirty degrees, and I was glad I was in the car. Just the same, I had to get hiking, so I secured the vehicle and put on my heavy backpack. It was time to finish off California Section C on the PCT!
The only parking spot I found was on a short spur of a forest road, just off Highway 38. This wasn’t exactly on the PCT. The place where I quit my hike in May turned out to be on a private road, behind a lockable gate, so I wasn’t sure about parking there. The forest road would be fine, I figured. The only issue was that I would have to climb a few hundred feet, cross country, in order to join up with the PCT. It was slow going, but in the cold air it felt good to build up a bit of body heat with a stiff climb.
Once I was on the main trail, life was good again. It was cruisey in this section, and much of my day would be spent descending, as this was the highest point in the Big Bear area. As I hiked, I came upon great views of San Gorgonio Mountain in the dawn sunlight. The snows of Spring were long since melted. It was a whole new mountain now. Back in 2012, Vicki and I hiked all along the San Gorgonio range, climbing nine peaks above 10,000 feet over several days. San Gorgonio Mountain, at 11,500 feet elevation, is the tallest peak in Southern California.
After cruising along with good views, the next four miles of trail dived down into Arrastre Canyon. The creek was flowing down there, but I have to say that the water looked nasty this time, and smelled a bit of Sulfur. With the cold weather, there was ice on the creek that morning. I was not amused by the smell, but I also didn’t need any water. After passing the trail campground, I took a video of the icicles in the clean spring on the side of the trail. Very nice. I added a comment to this effect in the Far Out app, the go-to crowdsourced app for nearly every PCT hiker. Yep, just doing my part to keep my fellow hiking fools from drinking stinky water.
Spring of clean ice cold water next to the trail – the creek smelled of sulfur so this was the good stuff
The trail eventually had to leave the bottom of the canyon, so it climbed steeply in the sun until it was high above it, with good views to the north. The creek flowed down into the Mohave Desert eventually, and the PCT had no business going down there. Not yet, anyway. For now, it stayed up along a ridgetop, on the divide between watersheds. Water to the right drained into the Great Basin, and water to the left into the Pacific Ocean. That’s why it’s called the Pacific Crest Trail, after all.
In fact, the trail along here stayed off to the east of Big Bear Lake and environs. Lake Baldwin was situated within the town of Baldwin Lake, a name-switcheroo that I found amusing. The lake was mostly dried up at this time of year. Big Bear Lake was much further west within this long valley, and I didn’t see it while hiking here. That would be tomorrow’s treat. For now, the views were good, and that’s what mattered to me. That’s one of the main reasons I hike this trail.
The miles flew by, as the trail was easygoing and the air was cool, at a near-perfect temperature for hiking. Before I knew it, it was midafternoon, and I was almost at Highway 18. It was time to pick up my water cache and choose a campsite for the night. Yesterday, when I found a spot to stash my cache, I also heard some crazy-sounding yelling in the nearby brush. I didn’t think too much of it, even though it was unusual. Today, I discovered the reason. There was a heavy, car-camping-style tent set up about a quarter mile from the highway, with a lot of random junk strewn around it. Ah. It was a homeless person’s abode. Didn’t they know that Winter was coming? But that wasn’t my concern. I hurried on, and discovered that my water jug was fine. Whew!
But at the same time, I didn’t really want to camp near here. I checked the Far Out app, but it wasn’t much help, as most thru hikers hitchhiked to Big Bear City from here and stayed in a motel while they resupplied. I walked toward the highway, carrying my eight pound jug in one hand. The trailhead parking lot on the side of the road had yet another homeless person staying there, although this time they were obviously living inside their car. A classier mode of homelessness. I didn’t want to camp near either of these modes, to be honest. Plus, the highway was very noisy with traffic. Three strikes and you’re out, I thought. This was a Halloween Trick that I didn’t want, not at all. I set down the jug and checked out the app again. The next real campsite was Doble Camp, about three miles away. Hoo boy. Right when my legs had already been told that they could stop for the day. Oops!
So I put away the phone, shifted the heavy jug to my other hand, and headed north on the PCT. I had plenty of time to hike the extra miles. It was the desire that I lacked. But my desire to leave the highway was greater. So on I went. And the views were good, mostly northeast, toward the Mojave. The trail crossed Holcomb Valley Road and the road to the town dump, then swung back west again. The “Northbound” PCT would head roughly West for the next two hundred miles! I know, because I did a hundred miles of it a couple weeks before. But that’s the PCT. 2600 miles long, but only 1500 of them are in the north-south direction, vector-wise. That’s a lot of wiggling.
I passed through a region of burnt forest that hadn’t been there last time, seven years ago, and got a bit worried. But my fears were for naught as the Doble Campground remained undamaged. True, there was no water from the nearby spring, but I didn’t need any. I already knew about this from Far Out. And I had to admit that this spot was much better than camping near the highway. I even had a picnic table! Nice.
There were a number of spots, and I picked one in the shade that looked flat. I set down the pack and got out the tent. Within a short while, I had a perfectly functional campsite, and no neighbors to annoy. Or be annoyed by.
I cooked up my first night’s meal, my usual ramen noodles with added dehydrated chicken chunks. I hadn’t sweated too much, what with the low temperatures this morning, but I had some powdered Gatorade mix anyway, just to stay hydrated. I followed that with a small bag of salty chips, and I was happy. I changed into my night clothing and read my Kindle for a while before going to sleep at sunset. Yes, life was good on the PCT, and this pleasant campground was the Halloween Treat that I deserved.
For a topographic map of the hike see my CalTopo Page
For LOTS more photos of the trek see my Flickr Page
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