Day 20 – 5/17/11 – 0 miles (266)
I was glad to be zeroing today. A ‘weather system’ moved into the area, resulting in a daily high in the mid 30s and off and on snow and rain with strong winds. We did the usual town things – laundry, food shopping, beer drinking, etc. The hostel is really accommodating to thru hikers, even giving us a ride to the grocery store. Ninja and I got to ride in the back of the wagon with 7 hikers’ groceries on the way back!

I spent the afternoon tracking down the down booties I’d ordered back in Idyllwild. I specified ‘general delivery’ in Big Bear City as my address when I ordered, not thinking much about it. I probably should’ve been aware that they would be shipped via UPS, and that UPS doesn’t deliver to post offices. However, UPS was kind enough to call and tell me this and let me change the address. Not knowing where we’d be staying in town, I chose an outfitter specified in Yogi’s book as willing to hold thru hiker packages. Well it turns out the outfitter no longer exists as such, but does still maintain a storefront for running trips and classes. When I eventually found the owner there, he didn’t have my package. In the end, it turned out a neighbor signed for the package, but didn’t realize it wasn’t for her. When she opened it, she realized it wasn’t for her, but failed to realize it was for the outfitter next door and returned the package to UPS. So I ended up a a UPS store where I finally got my booties!
We made plans to get out to the trail early the next morning.

Day 21 – 5/18/11 – 0 miles (266)
Well, the weather this morning was worse than yesterday morning, and when you’re sitting in a nice warm dry hostel, it sure is hard to willingly go out in 33 degree sideways rain. So we decided to stay in town another day.
The highlights of the day included my finding a book in the hostel (‘The Professor and the Madman’, a tale of murder, insanity, and the making of the Oxford English Dictionary), a really bad Chinese buffet lunch, and limited edition Winter Woodchuck cider.