Wrightwood – Big Bear Lake – Day 146 – Fri Nov 17th

Day 146 Fri Nov 17th
Unmarked tent site near HWY 138 – Hwy 173 – Super 8 – Hesperia
2325.9 – 2340.9
Approx. 1476 ft ascent 1785 ft descent
15 Miles

We woke up to possibly the worst condensation we’ve seen on trail. The inside of the tent and the outside of our sleeping bags were dripping wet. It must be to do with the fact the ground was saturated or proximity to Silverwood Lake.

As we walked around Silverwood Lake mist rolled off its surface.  We stopped to get water from the spigot at the campground.
Looking at the campsite it had a covered pavilion and bench seats and a water spiggot. Maybe the $10 really wasn’t a bad shout after all. Hindsight is a great thing.

We also found some form of film crew all set up in the car park next to the restrooms.
There had been an amazing smell of what seemed like Chinese food coming from this area. We were hoping there might be a food truck, so we went to investigate.

So far the sky is blue, it’s sunny and there’s no sign of any bad weather.
Although that’s all meant to change so we will need to keep a careful watch on the weather.

Walking around the periphery of Silverwood Lake was stunning as we contoured our way around the mountain. There was quite a drop down to the water + we had great views of the lake and surrounding mountains.
The light glistened off of the lake’s surface. You could also make out fishing boats almost hidden within pockets of mist that remained in isolated bays around the outside of the lake.

As we dropped almost level with the surface of the lake we passed small gazebos with picnic benches underneath. They looked very inviting next to the water’s edge.
These possibly would have been a good place to stop last night. Although I can only imagine the condensation would have been even worse this close to the water.

Reports in Far Out also said that ticks were a real problem in this area.
We stopped at the Silverwood Lake Spillway and arranged our tent and sleeping bags draped over the bridge in the sunshine and breeze to help dry them out.

Call it an unconventional washing line but
it worked a treat and I was surprised how quickly they dried.

We spend the afternoon trying to second guess the weather trying to make the right decision.

My Garmin Inreach weather report suggested zero precipitation between now and Sunday based on our current location.
However, other weather forecasts we follow suggested the opposite predicting bad weather this evening and tomorrow daytime.
If we get off trail in Hesperia today this again means only a short 15 miile day, which isn’t ideal.
But at least it’ll mean we could keep our gear dry tonight. This will set us up nicely for the remote higher elevation climb up into Big Bear Lake.
If we get our gear wet tonight and we’re not able to dry out properly due to the freezing temperatures this presents a problem.
Sometimes you just need to use your eyes to check the conditions around you and keep your fingers crossed.
Either way it’s been a hot topic of debate all afternoon on what we should do.

If it does rain tomorrow it would be nice to take a day off trail. However, that will put us further behind. Now the clock is ticking this is not an ideal situation to be in.
Just before Grass Valley Creek (an Oasis in the hills) we disturb a medium sized snake sunning itself on the sandy trail in front of us. It didn’t look like a rattlesnake. It was brown in colour and had some beautiful markings.

I gently tapped my trekking poles on the ground which seemed to do the trick and it slowly moved off into the bushes on the side of the trail out of harms way.

We hike down to Highway 173 where we
make the call to trail angel Alan.
Alan drops us off at the Joshua Inn which was more like a sports bar along the side of the highway.
It had a good atmosphere + Alan shows us
the porch where the section hiker had slept to avoid the rain.

We figured we wanted a little more privacy
and a comfy bed, so we asked Alan to take us into Hesperia so we could go stay in a motel.

He drove us the 14 miles into Hesperia to Motel 6. Promising to pick us up again early the next day and take us back to the trail.

He worked on the donation basis so I gave him $20, with the plan to give him another 20 on the way back.

Sarah and I spent a pleasant evening eating Domino’s pasta dishes and watching old episodes from the Cosby Show keeping a close eye on the weather.