Can You Bear It?

Greetings from Big Bear City at Mile 275 of the journey! I have been hiking with a man that calls himself "Thumbs Up". It's been going smoothly, but not without incident... I noticed bear tracks in the woods yesterday, then heard the roar. Turns out, there is a nearby "stunt animal" training facility. We were in no danger. Still curious, we walked to it, saw the bear that we had heard, took pictures of it, and continued on our hike. Well, not a day later we arrived in Big Bear City. News is that the bear that we just taken pictures of had killed his trainer that very same day. Here is the link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080423/en_nm/bear_attack_dc_2

I'm going to hang out here for a few days. On Friday the Annual Pacific Crest Trail Kickoff party begins. This is when most of the "thru hikers" begin their journey. It is said that this year around 500 people will attempt it, and about 200 will finish. I plan to be one of them, so keep checking back... many more posting to come...

Hemmingway Jones