I (hopefully temporarily) lost a member of my trail family, Andrew, leaving Big Bear to an infection on his hip. He took a week off in Big Bear to heal and is back at it now. That brought us to 3. We then lost Alicia in Wrightwood, she was moving faster and joined up with another group. I then lost Sunfish at the Acton KOA, as I had to get into town to buy food, and she had a box, ready to leave early. Upon arriving in Acton, I ran into Sailor and Snowshoe, who I hung out and camped with Day 2, then ended up losing after Mount Laguna. It was fantastic hanging out with them the first night. I ended up taking a Zero (a day off) in Acton, and ran into another group we’ve been around, and had a great time hanging out with them. Check out the YouTube Channel Walking Estonian for one of their members videos.
The pace is slowly starting to pick up. We’re starting to do bigger days, and after a “short” (actually 11 miles) day leaving Big Bear we did 17 miles, got into camp at 5:15 and I felt good, could have gone farther. The pace continued to pick up between Wrightwood and Acton. I did 3 20s (20 mile days), and while I generally felt OK, a bit of arch pain convinced me to take it easy in Acton.
It’s really important, and really hard, to listen to your body out here. You meet friends, have trail families, and want to continue hiking with them. However, sometimes you need to take it slow, and take it as an opportunity to meet new friends.
I picked up a camera from the post office in Big Bear, and I think it’s made a difference in the photos I’ve been taking. I’m really enjoying the improved wildflower photos, which you can find below.
