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[pct-l] Hiking in Big Bear



Saturday and Sunday, Geezer and I hiked from Highway 18 to Little Bear Trail
Camp. 
 
There was plenty of snow along the way. I left my snowshoes in the truck on
Saturday, but made good use of them on Sunday. Snow conditions ranged from
none on exposed slopes to four feet or more on some north slopes. Postholing
ranged from a few inches to over a foot, and we each fell in a hole waist
deep at least once. It was quite an adventure. My snowshoes were a big help
trying to keep up with Geezer's fast postholing. Navigation was even more
fun, using GPS waypoints to avoid uncertainty. It was a lot of fun, but a
lot of work for 22 miles in 2 days.  

Water is not a problem here. Every stream on the map had water flowing.
Caribou Creek in Van Dusen Canyon was flowing full, and the bridge was
partially submerged. Holcomb Creek is also flowing well. We did not go down
to Doble Trail Camp and did not find the pipe at Little Bear Trail Camp
(probably off due to freezing weather), but there was plenty of flowing
water at each camp.

This section of trail has some great views. Walkabout's tracks at Van Dusen
Canyon messed us up a bit as I thought they were Geezer's ahead of me when
in reality he had gotten behind me at a stop. This gave us each the
opportunity to enjoy the quiet of the last 3.5 miles. 

>From Van Dusen Canyon Road to the trail junction just west of Bertha Peak
was almost solid snow except a few short exposed sections.

I have pictures on my website. Click on "Pacific Crest Trail" and then
"Latest Hike" at the top of the page.

AsABat
www.4jeffrey.net