Day 12: Big Bear, mile 285

I woke this morning a few miles outside of Big Bear. After hiking the remaining 6 miles to Hwy 18, I made the worst decision of my trip so far: instead of catching a ride in to town with another hiker, I decided to try to walk into town so that I could leave the other end of town without feeling like I had "missed any footsteps". What followed was a beautiful hike down the pct, followed by a hellacious road walk. 

The road section was only 2 miles or so, and at first I thought if there wasn't a shoulder, I'd just walk through the dry lakebed. However, reaching the lake, posted signs alerted me that it was a fragile preserve and walking off the trail or road is prohibited. Since the shoulder was only about 3 inches wide (literally), I had to bushwavk up the side of what I presume is a rattlesnake infested hillside. Fortunately, no rattlesnakes were seen.

On the plus side, the hike out of town was nice.