Tale of Two Hikers Part II

As I headed back to the trail angel refuge, Lego started wandering off on an adventure of his own. He was climbing out of the canyon we were in, trying to stay ahead of the rain clouds. As he got to the top of the climb and was looking around, he decided that he needed to film a video so that I could later share in the views we had started hiking for.

Trial Angels Ziggy w/hat, and The Bear

What he ended up filming was his emotions as he contemplated hiking on alone. I wish I could add video right now, the whole production sounded like I had died, and he was contemplating carrying on alone forever. He even started laughing, recognizing how this was all sounding.

Lego descended the canyon, then tackled the next wall. The terrain here is total desert, the home of rattlesnakes, scorpions, and tortoises. Fortunately, he didn't run into any of those this day. He was

making tracks for Mission Creek at the bottom of his last climb, when he started running out of daylight. Rummaging through his pack looking for his headlamp, he kept coming up empty as full blown darkness settled in. He started getting desperate for he had another mile before he could set up camp. As he was walking, he saw a light up ahead of him. Lego started calling out to see if anyone would answer him, and he got an answering call back. Ah, a campsite is created!

That night though, Lego had a tough time. He woke to total darkness, became disoriented, and went into a full blown panic attack. He started thrashing around trying to get out of his sleeping bag. Eventually, he remembered where he was, and why, and got a little more sleep. But it sure scared him a lot.

The trail from the top of Mt. San Jacinto south of him, to the ridge on top of the San Bernardino mountains, is likely one of the greatest elevation loss and gains on the whole trail. You drop from 9030 ft. to 1195 ft. then go back up to 8635 ft all over agin. It makes for some steady climbing on the way to Big Bear for about two days. This is why, not feeling well, I hesitated on continuing on. This is a brutal climb.

Nothing major happened to Lego after that, he got some great video and pictures, which can only be shared once we get our computer back up and running, and he made it all the way to Big Bear in about 4 days. Was he ever thankful when he reached Big Bear!

Meanwhile, I continued on and reached Ziggy and The Bears house eventually. I never stopped for a rest, and I was exhausted when I finally stepped through their gate.

Here are the friendly faces that greeted me. I was an emotional wreck, but talking to KOKO and The Bald Guy really helped a lot.