It only hurts when I walk

Hello All! My apologies for such a long time between posts. We are in Big Bear City (mile 235). We are both healthy and happy but still a little trail sore. We were forced to skip 30 miles due to a forest fire near Mount San Jacinto. The fire was already out by the time we got there but the Forest Service needed to do "Resource Damage Assessment". We took the closure as a sign to take a full rest day in Idyllwild which we did and were thankful for. Of course we arrived on the day the library was closed hence no new blog post. From there we hiked to the summit of Mount San Jacinto (10,800') complete with snow travel and over the next day and a half descended to the trail's low point in California 1188' at San Gorgonio pass (at the I-10). Over 9000' vertical descent! Very punishing indeed but interesting passing through all the various life zones. We then immediately climbed back up to 8500' on the other side of the pass. Yes, the second 100 miles were much harder than the first. Much of the last few days were spent hiking through a burn area. As you probably know, over the last few years much of southern California has burned including many sections of the PCT. What is interesting though is how quickly these areas are coming back. Whole hillside's covered in purple wildflowers, more globemallow than I have ever witnessed (and it's one of my faves), and new shoots growing out of the bases of burned out trees. Fire is a cleanser and very much a part of the natural cycle.

We have met quite a few more hikers. In fact, we will be celebrating a trail birthday tonight with many cold cervezas and another birthday in the next town! It's not all pain and suffering! Hope all is well with you and don't forget to leave comments (Just click "comments" below. If you don't have a Google account, just click "anonymous" and sign your name at the bottom of your comment).