Cajon Pass

May 24 - Day 23

3:00 PM - On Wednesday, after several days in Big Bear to deal with Wingit's tooth (she ended up needing a root canal), we hit the trail again. After nine miles in we met up with our friend "Boots" at Van Dusen Canyon Road who had hitched a ride with a couple hotties who were on their way to belay Tommy Lee and Ludacris for some reality TV show.

We decided to hike across a section of trail that had been closed due to a recent fire, and found the trail in superb condition. Down by a river bank the bushes had already grown back, so despite fierce winds, we were able to have a relatively sheltered camp. The next morning, it actually started snowing! In all, close to 2 inches of snow collected on the ground, and subsequently melted over the course of about 3 hours. Hiking with 9-Lives, who I had met on the very first day, we managed to cover significant ground and made it to Deep Creek Hot Springs by night. We camped right by the creek under the cover of trees.

The next day, after a soak in the hot springs, we headed down the trail under ominous skies. I told Wingit, "my gut tells me it's going to pour" and sure enough within the hour the rain started. For the next 6 hours there was steady rain and temperatures in the 50's. Most of the hikers we ran into on the trail were only prepared for warmer weather. By 5 PM, there was no sign of the rain letting up, so we helped a fellow hiker who was very wet and cold hitch a ride to the motel at Cajon Pass.

At the motel, we ran into a whole crew of other hikers who had been rained off the trail, or had just decided not to leave again while the rain was still falling. That night, I decided to eat at McDonalds for the first time in 5 years. I had a double quarter pounder with cheese and a 10 piece McNugget, and loved every bit of it. The grease had never tasted so good!

We decided to take a day off the trail to dry out our gear but plan on leaving tomorrow. We're going to skip the resupply in Wrightwood and go the full 140 miles to Agua Dulce.