April 22, 2016

Arrastre Trail Camp (mile 256.2) to Highway 18 (mile 266.1)

Miles: 9.9

At midnight, Andy whispered, “Laurie, Laurie!”

“What?” Responded a wide-eyed, still half asleep Laurie.

“I think I need to throw up. Can you please grab me a ziplock bag just in case? I don’t know if I’ll make it out of the tent”

Andy ran out of the tent, making sure to get far away from camp to not disturb the others nearby.

A few moments later, he returned to the tent and fell asleep.

The temperature dropped into the 30s as the bright moon illuminated the dark forest. Andy’s feet were cold all night. He might need his down booties! Laurie though, she’s a very hot sleeper, so she was warm and toasty all night.

We enjoyed a lazy morning filled with friendly banter, lots of laughter and hot food. We were in no rush because we only had 10 miles to hike to the road. And our ride was coming at 2:30.

Laurie ate banana nut oatmeal while Andy drank DoMatcha tea.

Dave was the first to break camp and start walking, followed by Florent. We’re not sure if we’ll see Florent again. He’s not stopping in Big Bear. And he hikes fast.

Around 8:30am we finally started walking. All the stretching and massaging must have helped because Andy’s foot didn’t bother him the first few miles.

We enjoyed cool temps and blue skies as we walked. There wasn’t much elevation gain today but the trail meandered quite a bit, offering views on both sides of the mountain.

We hiked fast and relatively pain free. The bottoms of Laurie’s feet hurt due to all the rocks on the trail, but for the most part, it was easy going.

The wind picked up and the clouds warned of a low pressure system arriving in two days or so. The weather is calling for rain Sunday night and Monday morning.

At 12:40pm we reached the highway. We sat in the shade, made phone calls, caught up on emails and our blog, posted on instagram and chatted with other hikers.

Ed pulled up as promised around 2:30. He drove us to his home where we chit chatted about all things hiking and backpacking with him and his wife Jeanie.

We showered, did laundry and went to dinner around 6.

We are enjoying our time with Ed and Jeanie and very appreciative for staying in their home. It’s really nice to be out of the cold, blustery wind.

Oh, and did we mention we get to sleep in a bed?

Tomorrow, Andy’s parents are coming to Big Bear with food(!!!) and our resupply packages for the next section. We are hoping the wind dies down so we can enjoy being outside.

And we plan to hike out tomorrow, but only for a few miles. The low mile days will hopefully provide much needed rest for our feet.

Tonight we are grateful for hot showers and cotton sheets.