The Fake Facade: Wrightwood

Coming out of Big Bear we did our first 20 mile day. Backing that up with a 22 miler we were set to get to Cajon Pass with time to spare.

First a recap of Big Bear:

Alison and Rich at Murray's in Big Bear.

A patron blending in at Murray's.

Great movie!

The command module as we were dropped back to the trail at highway 18.

One of our last views of Big Bear Lake.

Jud.

Eugene with a gianormous sandwhich.

Kyle with a gianormous book.

Hikers hanging near the creek for lunch.

Naked Dancing enjoying a maté at the hot springs.

Coyote in the last of Deep Creek we'll see.

The Mojave dam.

Coppertone. A trail angel who was unfortunaly out of supplies when we rocked through. This was becoming a regular occurance for us. Instead of pie and root beer floats we got some warm root beer!

Merman signing the PCT log at Coppetone's.

Critter and Hitch.

Coming into Cajon Pass. The PCT is defined by taking the least direct path to
get anywhere. While this means less elevation change by following the contours of the terrain, it can be frustratingly tedious.

A short exception to that rule. It reminded Jim of the last scene of 'Gladiator'.

Walking for ten hours a day with scenery constantly sliding past you and you can get quite philosophical. I've been thinking how humans are great migrators. Most of the population could do the PCT. While most of the population aren't crazy enough to walk 2,600 miles, they could if they had to. The other end of that philosophical scale is getting The Proclaimer's 'I'd walk 500 miles' stuck in your head for 16 miles! Jim calls them earworms.

I found myself on the lookout for the perfect flower. There are so many beautiful flowers along the trail, it can drive you crazy deciding if you should stop and take a photo. Then I had a fleeting change of mind that I should pay equal attention to the older flowers. The ones that have survived the constant brush of hikers.

Doing the trail on horse back. I only remember the horse's name; Shadow.

McDonalds at Cajon Pass.

Hikers hijacking the power at McDonalds.

Our pad for the night.

Nathan from Toowoomba. I think his trail name should be 'Dicky Knee'.

Ben, the Coke rep.

Kyle, Iris, Nathan and Jim with Del Taco.

Outside McDonald's...

Charlie and Unicorn.

Leaving Cajon Pass.

This bit of road was part of the original Route 66.

There was a constant stream of freight trains though Cajon Pass. They were huge! Some of them must be a couple of kilometres long!

Like the trees it is impossible to describe just how big they are.

We got the last two rooms at the motel.

The owners of the Pines Motel; Nara and Jae.

Toby the resident dog at the Pines Motel Wrightwood.

Tonka, Benjamin and Blisters at the Yodeler Tavern. This was close to the time 'Fulsom Prison Blues' came on the jukebox and we knew we were going to be there a while...

Norm a dialect man.

Blisters.

Who proceeded to show us some pictures without pulling out a smart device... Cool. 😎

I'm sorry! I forgot your name again... 😒

Benjamin spinning everyone out with tales of Scott Hamilton and his legendary backflip.

Betsy arrives on the scene. Obviously a trail angel!

She was asked for hugs.

Dave a local at the bar.

Cleveland, the MC for the trivia night.

When hikers clear tables.

Ryan the publican.

Trivia night. Stumped with American sports questions, my defining moment was knowing that Jaws was the first movie to be described as a 'blockbuster'.