Mile 251.0 to 252.5 – 2.3 miles total hiked

Note: This post contains a few disturbing images containing blood.

I was planning on taking a zero day in Big Bear because of the chance of rain or snow Saturday evening. Plan was to get to mile 266 and get into Big Bear via Highway 18.

Then a tree attacked me out of nowhere.

(OK I misjudged the height of the tree and banged my head HARD on one of the sharp broken branch ends).

Thanks to some passing hikers they were able to help patch me up and get me down to the Onyx Summit trail junction with Highway 36. From there, I got a Lyft down to big bear and an urgent care center.

No concussion symptoms, no dizziness, and no nausea.

I want to thank Cowboy’ (trail name) for helping me walk back to the highway and the three other hikers (Lucky Charm, Sheryl Crow, Clementine) trained in wilderness medicine (how lucky was that). Thanks again, you all.

Beside the blood, the staples put in my urgent care doctor, and the early exit the trail things went pretty well that day. 😜

I decided to extend my single night in big Bear to two nights to take a full zero today to recover, resupply, relax, and play in the snow.

And since the “chance of rain” turned into fairly steady rain and then hail and snow after 5 PM, I was glad to be off the trail.

It also allowed me to find churro Donettes at the local 7-11. Yum.

Two staples to keep my brain from leaking out of my head.

Just a little blood on the clothing that I used to after the bloody bleeding and clean up the blood.

The actual weather turned out to be much worse than the weather report indicated it would be.

The photos below are of the view outside my hotel window the next morning. Pretty good choice not to be on the trail the previous night.

So in the end, I didn’t feel too good on the second day after the killer tree attacked me, so I decided I’d take another deal in Big Bear to rest, recuperate, and get my resupply sorted before heading back to the trail.

This is the kind of injury that could’ve stopped my entire journey on the PCT in its tracks, I pushed through my doubts and plan to restart my hike from the Onyx trail junction.