Day 11 - The Endless Hot Hungry Climb - 28 miles

We were all a little groggy after setting off around 4am. The mood was good but you could tell there was a little nervousness in the air because Scott had lost all his food to the raccoons and I was dumb enough to not bring enough food for the miles we had left to Big Bear. We were going to have to ration what we had with the help of Keith and Leslie. The first few hours of the day went by pretty uneventfull. We wound through some washes and climbed some ridges, had second breakfast (which was a half of a raw top ramen for me), before we started our main climb of the day. This climb would be taking us from 2000ft to 8500ft, all on as little calories as I could handle. Crap. 

I don't remember much of the climb other than feeling hot and uninterested in the amazing scenery. I was really mad at myself for not appreciating it, but it was very difficult with the amount of energy I had. At about 18 miles in we stopped at a shady creek and took a little siesta. All I could afford to eat was a few pieces of candy and scrape the reminence of Nutella from my jar. The nap really helped and set me up to feel fairly well for the remaining climbing for the day. At this point Keith gave me a large bag of Cashews which was probably the perfect timing because I was about to crash hard. Before I knew it we were up in the tall pines and juniper trees, the air was cool, and my mood lifted. We stopped for an early dinner around 5 before finishing our miles for the day. This consisted if us all sharing some hummus and tortillas and a mountain house brand lasagna. It was sooo good and fulfilling! We decide to hike until  dark to see if we could make it to the next campground almost seven miles away. Shortly after we started again we ran into a few day hikers who have us all their extra food after hearing of our dilemma. We were saved! No more stressing about the 20 miles we still had to cover in the morning into Big Bear.  Next, we ran into the only other person we had seen all day. Kara was a thru hiker from Washington and really lifted all of our moods. She was energetic and had lots of great stories which fueled us the remaining miles for the day. We made it to the campsite and setup just before dark. It was one of the coldest nights on the trail so far, but I have never slept better.