Wednesday, May 13th—Day 21

-Big Bear, Day Two.

Slept on the floor of our room at Motel Six last night. Steve and I both lost on the coin tosses, so Tom and Jerry took the beds. Steve set up by the entrance, and I slid in next to the bathroom door. It wasn’t uncomfortable but I seem to sleep better in my tent (which I have named “The Green Shark” due to its sleek, dorsal fin-like appearance, and due to the fact that, like sharks, once you’re inside getting out can get a bit tricky. The “Green” part is because it’s green.)
After scrambling around sorting our thing and checking, double checking, tiple checking to make sure we didn’t forget anything, we checked out, and Steve found a ride back up to the trail head. We still had more to do in town, and, with no transportation, we dropped our packs in the lobby and walked to the post office.

Big Bear is an interesting town. It’s close to Los Angeles, which makes it the ideal vacation spot for people trying to get away from big city life in this area. Some amount of celebrities have called it home, or second home, in the past, and some still do. Looking at the large houses on the other side of the lake from us, it wasn’t hard to imagine that they might. Our walk to the post office, however, led us through a more rundown part of town. It wasn’t an awful neighborhood, but I couldn’t lose the sense that it had been forgotten in favor of bigger wallets and higher-profile residents across town.

After the post office, we caught a bus to the library, where we used their computers, and then walked back to the motel. We’d intended to stop by Taco Bell again, but had passed it accidentally, not noticing until we were too far to go back. Instead, we ate at La Paws, a tiny Mexican place a block from the motel. I had a carnitas burrito. It was delicious. Best part of town.

I mean that. I don’t have anything really good to say about Big Bear, but I don’t think I like it too much. Idyllwild was way better. Small, and laid out perfectly so that we could walk anywhere we needed to go in minutes. And we were like heroes there. People love thru-hikers, jumping out of the woodwork to offer us rides.

Right. So, after we ate, we had to figure out a ride back to the trailhead, which was many miles from the hotel, and a long unnecessary walk in the dark. The owner of the hiker-friendly Nature’s Inn gave us a number to call, and a guy named Ryan picked us up from the motel shortly later. It turns out that he had no idea why the Nature’s Inn owner would even have his number, let alone give it out to people who need rides, but he drove us anyway, because he’s a hero who fights fires out here.

Ryan dropped us off and we set up camp just before the road, under a gorgeous starry sky. I love being back on the trail after a night in town, and I hope tomorrow will be as good as I feel like it will be. Night.