Update from Idyllwild
After the snowy Mount Baden Powell, we made our way to Big Bear, and there were many fun stops and things that happened in this 100 mile stretch!
Only 22 miles after Wrightwood, the PCT crosses highway 15 at Cajon Pass, house of the famous “PCT McDonalds”. We headed out of town and camped with some trail friends just before the McDonalds, so we could get breakfast there first thing in the morning.
Since we were there, we decided to also do the “McDonalds Resupply Challenge”, which consists of getting food there to last you until your next town stop. We rolled out of McDonalds with 4 breakfast sandwiches, 2 burgers, nuggets, and fries, after having eaten too many calories on site including several breakfast items and soft serve ice cream. We also took advantage of their app deals and got a lot of discounted/free items.
But our luck didn’t end here! Trail friends Shaggy and Peaches, whom we met at Wrightwood, invited us to dinner trail magic that same day. We got back on the trail and walked to Lake Silverwood. Shaggy’s parents, Bob and Debbie, were waiting for us there with delicious appetizers, pasta, salad and a lot of sweet treats. All the PCT hikers ate avidly and left nothing behind. Bob and Debbie were very welcoming and sweet to us, very interested in all our trail stories.
we also swam at the lake! Probably the last on in our journey.
Sadly, we had to leave trail magic at night and not in the morning like everyone else because we had an appointment at Lake Arrowhead. Powered by our cold McDonalds food, we hiked to Lake Arrowhead stopping at the Deep Creek hot springs. What a day! The hot springs were super cool so we soaked for about one hour, then continued hiking. Greatest lunch stop of the whole trail. Oh! The verdict on the McDonalds food was that the breakfast sandwiches stayed good for the day after but the fries were terrible, tasted like cardboard.
By 6pm we made it to Lake Arrowhead. Wizard was waiting for us, with our friend Maps. Wizard is a Nobo hiker whom we met back in July at Timberline lodge. He invited us to crash at his place in Lake Arrowhead and… we made it to his place! It was awesome seeing him again, hanging out and resting at his beautiful home. He also made Hot Pot for us, which we enjoyed so much!
After resupplying at the best grocery store of all times (guess which one in the comments!!), we headed back to the trail and headed to Big Bear Lake. We were loaded up with calories and also carrying yummy snacks. The hike was beautiful and we enjoyed the journey.
More about Big Bear and our journey to Idyllwild in next post…
P.S. we’re currently in Idyllwild, only 180 miles from the border but don’t have time right now to blog for longer!!
