Lions, Tigers, and Bears
This morning I calculated it would be possible to reach Big Bear City, my next resupply point, via a 28-mile hike to Highway 18 and a subsequent 4.5-mile hitchhike into town. All right – civilization!
I caught up to another hiker named Brian in late morning, but not before taking in a bizarre sight. Right beside the trail, around mile 248, were a series of reinforced cages with serious predators inside: a lion, Bengal tiger, and two grizzly bears. And I thought we didn’t have to worry about bears until the Sierras, in another 500 miles! Turned out they were trained for the movies.
Brian and I kept up a good pace despite an unexpected cache of soda, bananas, and cookies in coolers by the trail, left for PCT hikers. After hiking 28 miles, we hitched into town with a kindly plumbing contractor, ate an enormous dinner, and checked into a hostel after a very long day.
“Oh my!” ….Strange place for those critters! It’s still snowing in the Sierra, but hopefully in another few weeks it will have settled down. Happy Trails, Noah!
Wow! That is just so nice that people leave food along the trail for the hikers. I am sure that you watch the weather, but it is definitely crazy….might be a good thing that you are weeks behind some of the other hikers. We had close to 1/2 inch of rain today in Napa, with wind and hail, and the prediction for this weekend is possibly up to 2 more inches of rain (how can this be June??) Rain here usually means more snow in our already snow-packed mountains. Enjoying your posts. Aches and pains gone?? 8-)