Now that I was back on the pct I was inch higher spirits when I woke up. My feet hurt but I knew I would be taking a couple of neros to resupply in big bear lake. Everyone beat me out of camp that day but i didn't care. It was only 4 miles to the highway to hitch into town so I wasn't in amy rush. I just wanted to get to the post office before it closed to send a few things home I didn't need. On the hike out I came across about a dozen ultra distance runners going south bound on the trail. It was sensory overload because I could smell all of the deodorants, shampoos, lotions and detergents they were wearing. I couldn't believe how strong the scent was. I made it to the highway and stuck my thumb iut to hitch not knowing how long It would be before I got a ride. To my surprise within thirty seconds I was in a car on my way to big bear. I got flopped off pretty far from where my trail family was but again I just stuck my thumb out and had another ride within minutes. I met up with my trail family at the hiker hostel and we all shared a Load of laundry. I went over to the post office to send back about 2 pounds of gear i realized i didnt need. Later we went to the local grocery store and began our resupply. We all bought some food to eat first before we shopped so weren't so hungry as we reupplied. Also I carried a basket instead of a cart so I knew how much weight I'd be carrying. After resupplying we all met back up at the hostel. The hostel was full, but the owner told us there was national forest land just up the road where we could camp at. After a short hike up the road we found our free campsite for the night. It probably wasn't the most legal site as we got some strange looks from cars that drove by, but we were happy. We cowboy camped on a pullout of the dirt forest road and watched the sunset over the lake. Day 19 -4 miles
The next morning the tan clan and I went back to the hostel to hang out. We rummaged through the hiker box again and rested our feet. Pacer took off first for the trail, followed by Sam. Sarah and I hung out at the hostel for a little longer because we wanted a little longer to rest our feet. We hitched out around 5 and met up with Nick and Beth, an awesome couple in their 30s who we'd been leap frogging back and forth since we started the trail. We hiked together for about 3 miles to a little campsite. It was an international campsite that night because there were People from all over the world there. Germany, Czech Republic, taiwain, amd japan. We had a campfire and reflected on the trail up to that point. It was great hearing about everyone's experiences uo to that point. I cowboy camped again and watched in awe as the stars exploded across the sky.
Day 20 - 3 miles