On Sunday we completed the last section of trail that was rideable before the Lake fire closure that extends up the south side from north of Whitewater towards Big Bear. It hot again, even though I could see clouds and fog at times down in the San Bernardino Valley below, and after my mom picked us up with the trailer at Onyx Summit, we descended into a welcome blanket of coolness that seemed like another world after our sunny sojourn in the hills. I missed having the opportunity to stop and cool the horses off with water that we had all enjoyed earlier, when we were passing along Silverwood Lake or following Deep Creek. Doing this section southbound instead of northbound meant we did a lot of climbing (although of course had the trail been open so that I could have come in from Whitewater I would have had to climb up from there). I once had a comment that made me laugh about how, if I was going south, then it would be "downhill" all the way from Canada to Mexico . . . some people have a very strange sense of geography!

#2016PCT