Big bear city to little bear springs campground - 19.5 miles (+0.6 mile because Caleb and I took a wrong turn)

Total - 285.6 miles

Good start to the morning as we woke up around 6am to try to get a hitch around 7am to be on trail latest at 8. It took all of 5 minutes at the bus stop with our thumbs out (actually I don’t even think our thumbs were out) for a guy in a built out van coming the wrong direction pull a U-turn asking if we need a ride. Big bear has some of either the craziest people for picking up hitch hikers or the absolute nicest. He then played ling by the cranberries while cruising up to the trail. Truly a spectacular vibe. As we pulled up there were three hikers waiting and we did a swap-a-roo and he took them back into town. We then had 19.5 cruising miles where I felt fucking spectacular. Easily because of the ibeprofen for my back but also I just felt like my trail legs kinda hit in that moment. We will see tomorrow where I might be eating my own words and crawling to the campsite. Marc and Christian are having a little issues with their feet and the bard with his ankle. Nothing too series but we are going to slow down a lil. PLUS we are way ahead of June 3rd arrival date at Kennedy meadows where dad will be. With no zeros, and going 18 miles a day we would be there in 23 days and that would put us at a disadvantage. I keep telling everyone my dad is coming and they keep saying they can’t wait to meet Mr Ian sinks but I don’t have the heart to tell them that my dad probably doesn’t want to hang around a bunch of 25-27 year olds that fucking laugh at sagging tittie jokes and fart non-stop. Although Christian is 37 but he looks 22. I am excited for my dad to meet everyone though who I will probably hike with until Kennedy meadows which is 700 miles in. Don’t know if he will be thrilled but it will be a blast. The landscape is similar to bend oregon until we came across a dead zone that is growing back. We were trailing rain so the ground was wet but we weren’t (thank god) and we could hear thunder close by. Got to camp all dandy at 2:30pm and laid around snacking on gummies and goldfish. Set up and then went to go get water and then that’s when it rained. Everyone hates it but I kinda love it as it isn’t a constant drizzle but a quick downpour? Maybe not downpour but in between drizzle and downpour so I guess it just fucking rained for 15 minutes. During this period, the bard confessed that he peed in his Gatorade bottle because he didn’t know the rain would stop. He has this Gatorade bottle for when he’s too tired to get out of his tent or it’s too cold, that he pees in. He then proceeds to show and tell to the group and the gatorade bottle is practically full and hella yellow. He does drink emergency packets for his electrolytes so maybe that contributes to the color but still concerning non the less. It’s more of the fact that he walked over to my tent unzipped the rain fly just to show me. I could hear Caleb gagging in the background. After the rain stopped we made dinner which was a delightful rice side, cheese, and tuna. An elite combo. Diet is still messing with my system as the gas cramps are real. The guys have no problem with letting out the most wicked farts whenever but I’m a lady and I like mine silent but deadly. I’ve been also nawing on my giant salami and taking bites out my cheese the entire day. Double fisting some would say. Now I’m all tucked into bed comfy as can be. Tomorrow is all downhill basically, we are thinking 15 miles but might push 20. Hot springs are in 22 , natural jacuzzi. And then the day after that, so in three days there is a McDonald’s a mile off trail which all the hikers go to with their stank ass bodies and gear and take up one side of the McDonald’s. Soops excited. This section already is so much buster than the last one. Mainly bc the trail has been easy breezy. It might get worse tomorrow since it’s a high chance of rain. The weather is supposed to turn as well with a low of 29 on Monday. Hopefully it gets better.

I forgot to mention I was listening to music the entire day for the first time on this entire trip. Reminder: I had a rule to listen to music only when I was struggling. My shoulders were hurting so bad because of the weight of the resupply so I caved and listened to music and I had a pep in my step the entire day. Resupply was heavy.

Have of the stuff I write on here I forget that I wrote about it and might mention it in future posts so please forgive my pea size brain and it’s horrible memory. Anyways, I found a 3/8 inch pad in the middle of the trail before big bear and I added a comment on far out to see if anyone would text me it’s theirs. They didn’t…so now it’s mine. Used it for the first time today, phenomenal. Upped my sitting game and laying down game. It feels like I just keep adding weight to my pack. But then I keep losing stuff so it’s all at equilibrium.

Also it’s crazy that it’s a new month. About to hit 300+ miles in 3 weeks. It’s actually insane to think about. After that first week I knew it would start going by fast but goddamn.