Day 20 Did Not Go According To Plan

Day 20 May 7

The plan for today was:

Get on the road by 8 am leaving Phoenix to get back to Big Bear Lake,

Stop at the I 10 near Cabazon to offer hikers a ride into town,

Drop off Power-aid drinks at the trailhead,

Offer hikers a ride into Big Bear,

Return rental car before they closed at 3,

Get back on trail and do 10 miles today to start trying to catch up with our trail friends after our weekend off.

What actually happened:

We were out the door of the condo by 8:45 and stopped to get coffee. We said goodbye to Christine and we were on our way. We stopped at the I 10 bridge near Cabazon but the 6 hikers under the bridge were just having a siesta and nobody was going into town. Later, as we were westbound on the I 10 we were in the wrong lane and got off the interstate and ended up going towards Riverside California. This detour cost us time and we ended up not having enough time to take the power aid drinks to the trailhead or offer rides.

We returned the car to Enterprise (a big thank you to Jesse) and found out that our larger group of 10 people were still here in Big Bear Lake. Some people were taking zero’s to heal their ailments and some had fallen a couple days behind us. When we found out that everybody but Thor was here, we decided to spend the night in Big Bear and we will hike out tomorrow.

Witch Doctor has decided to leave the trail so we all went out to the local brewery for beer and supper to bid farewell to him. Witch Doctor is a great guy who was very helpful to the group and he will be missed.

We are staying at the Big Bear Hostel in a private room. It’s another great hangout for hikers to gather and share experiences.