Day 20: The San Bernardinos Kicked My Bum

Date: April 29, 2017
Miles: 226.1 – 240

“When you get to the end of a canyon, you know the only way out is up.” ~ Katie

Nothing super remarkable happened today.  Except for the wrong turn that I took that led Roi, John and I to a dead end, from which we had to scramble up a steep hill to get back on trail. We realized what had happened when we looked up and saw Katie and Connor on the trail up above, asking what the heck we were doing down there. 

When we got back on track, we walked for miles along Mission Creek and then we hoofed it straight up the mountains of the San Bernardino National Forest for 4.5 miles until I died. I died three times. If I don’t get in better shape by the sierras, they are going to kill me. 

Part of the forest that we went straight up through was destroyed by the Lake Fire in 2015 and what is left standing is sadly beautiful. I tried capturing it with my camera, but like all of my photographs so far, they can’t adequately convey the grandness and the solemn feeling of it all. I walked most of the way through this area by myself and was grateful for the time alone. 

I finally crawled into camp exhausted and with dead legs and found Roi and Paul hanging out with a man from Camas, Washington and another from Brisbane, Australia.  We conjectured about the condition of the Sierra while we made dinner, which for me was a Ramen Bomb – ramen noodles and mashed potatoes mixed together. It’s as gut busting as it sounds and I blame Roi for telling me about this. I’m trying to digest it as I type this post.  Katie and Strongback rolled in a few minutes later but John decided to camp a half-mile back since he was tired and hungry and didn’t want to go any farther. 

In addition to the Ramen Bomb, I am trying another new thing this evening – cowboy camping. I keep saying I’m going to do it but then I chicken out at the last minute. Not tonight!  Of course I didn’t do it last night when it was nice and warm out, but waited until we climbed to nearly 8,000 feet…I’m feeling glad that I have a zero degree quilt, for sure.  Camas man kindly shared with me all of his stories about creatures that he has woken up to find in his sleeping bag, so…yah. Thanks Camas man!