Day 30- May 19th

We woke up before sun-up today and were walking by 6:30am, a new record! We witnessed a beautiful sunrise across the still lake:

The gnats were so thick on the beach above our tent they made a loud buzz. We powered up a beach side trail to rejoin the PCT and involuntarily had a few gnats for breakfast. I'll take all the protein I can get!

We went around the lake for a bit, turned a corner, and went around the lake some more! Silverwood Lake is big! 

Less than 4 miles in we got to go down a side path to the bathroom facilities, where we ate a little breakfast, used flush toilets (Hooray!), and filled up with water.

When we arrived we bumped into Squirrel and Listen, the people who had given us a ride from Big Bear back to the trailhead. A few minutes later came G-String. 

The funny thing was that G-String was arriving to Big Bear when we were starting the trail again, and we all met that day. Then, we haven't seen each other for four days, and there's a surprise reunion at Silverwood Lake! Crazy trail..

Climbing up and up away from the lake, we discovered today's worst enemies: Flies. Worse than the gnats, the flies in this in-between area from wet to dry were horrible! Stopping for a few seconds to drink some water, you'd get attacked. Taking breaks were completely out of the question until we got a little higher when the winds started picking up. Dang flies!

Because we got a nice early start, the miles were flying by! Just after noon we were looking hard for a shady place to stop. We found some small shrubs trail side that were tall enough to provide a little shade, and rested there for an hour and a half. 

From there we knew it was less than 6 1/2 miles to the McDonalds where we'd meet Helen, so we could take our time getting there. It felt nice to relax during at least some of the hottest time of day.

I've never in my life had McDonalds on my mind for 4 days in a row, and it's never been such a trophy in my mind to reach, but in Cajon Pass, after almost 80 miles from Big Bear, the McDonalds could not come sooner.

With a little less than 2 miles until Cajon Pass, we came across an awesome expansive view:

Shortly after that, Claire spotted a black widow spider! It had a red hourglass on its backside and all! 

(Sorry for the bad pic, didn't want to get close enough for the wind to blow it onto my bare leg)

The trail dropped down steeply and at this point we were tiiiiiiired! 72 miles in 4 days! Near the interstate we saw a nice sign telling us how far we have yet to go:

Next to it we saw an official PCT sign with McDonald's on it! Never though I'd see that!

When we finally arrived, there were a bunch of other hikers there taking refuge and grubbing out.

Josh's feast

Apparently we just missed Floyd Mayweather, (the world famous boxer), and his crew rolling towards Vegas. If you don't know who this is, here's some facts: This guy's net worth in 2015 was about $650 million dollars. According to Forbes list, he was the highest paid athlete in 2012-2014. He recently got paid $300 million dollars for a 36 minute fight against Manny Pacquiao.

The following story is from "42", a hiker who got his name from the number of mosquito bites he had on his back alone in the Sierra last year:

So this guy rolls in with his gang of 7 1/2 ft bodyguards. They all order their food, and Mayweather ordered a simple cheeseburger. Then they all watch in awe as "42", a little scruffy, 5 foot 7, super dirty scraggly hiker, orders a parfait, two specialty sandwiches, a large fries, a 20 piece chicken nugget, a McFlurry, and a couple other things.

It was two entirely different worlds. Mayweather's crew in their fancy suits and expensive watches, pockets bulging with wads of cash, and this little dirty hiker putting away $20 of McDonald's all at once! Wish I had seen it.

So as I was sitting at the McDonald's chowing down on a Big Mac, something amazing happened: I received a call from a number from Seattle, I had been selected as a winner from a sweepstake Claire and I had entered an an expo event while shopping for some discounted clothing items for the PCT.

I won a 2 night/3 day, all expense paid trip to Vegas for two people, including airfare and lodging in a fancy hotel! I couldn't believe it! I asked him if we could go after we finish the trail maybe in October and he said he would have to call me back and see, as these things normally need to happen within a few months. But if not, neither of us are opposed to a 3 day vacation to Vegas in the middle of our 3 season vacation! Very very exciting. I'll give more detail as I learn more.

Soon Helen picked us up from the McDonald's and we had to fight off the other hikers that wanted to come with us. 

Many of them will be sleeping under Interstate 15 tonight, and there is a high wind advisory lasting until 3am on Saturday, with 50-60 mph gusts! To add to that the train tracks are a few feet from the interstate, and trains blare through there at all times of the night... Let's just say we are very grateful to be staying in a nice cozy house tonight!

When we arrived, we got all showered up and then Helen bombarded us with snacks and goodies from Hawaii! Lychee candies, Mac-nuts of all flavors, caramel popcorn, edamame chips, hard candies, and even a bunch of goodies from Trader Joes!

Thanks aunty Helen!

We waited for Ed to get off of work and then went to In-N-Out with the whole family! 

We enjoyed talking there and catching up will all kinds of stories and memories. Later at home, Ed caught us up with some real-world things that have happened in the last month that we didn't know about! Apparently Prince died the day after we started! (This is what Claire was most saddened by.)

Ed, Helen, Matthew, Claire and I

Yup, we are full, tired, and verrrrry sleepy.. We walked 16.47 miles today, arriving at McDonald's before 6. We are definitely getting faster. That makes  a total of 71.41 miles in 4 days!! And that's WITH a hot spring soak! 

Tomorrow we watch the intensity of the wind storm and decide to continue on or wait it out!

-Thanks for reading!