Daily distance – 20
Total miles – 20
Great start to the trail.
Out flights out to San Diego were smooth, and our Trail Angel (Bob) was at the curb to pick us up within 5 min of our arrival. From the airport, we headed off to A16, an outfitter in San Diego that was hosting the Annual PCT Night complete with a gear raffle and beer. They also showed the PCT 2015 Class movie. We were there for about an hour and then headed to Bob’s place. There are a total of 6 hikers staying there. Bob shuttled us over to Ralph’s Grocery store and we picked up some water bottles. One of the guys who was at Bob’s was someone that we had met while hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail in 2014…small world.
We hung out with of the hikers in Bob’s living room after our outing before heading off to bed around 10.30.
Bob woke everyone up at 4.15am and we were rolling a half hour later. Getting such an early start gave us a solid day to hike the miles that we were wanting/expecting to do – 20 miles, to the lake Morena campground.
Our group at the monument was Brook (from Seattle) , Anka (from Belgium), Lid (from South Africa) and Sweep (from Seattle) – and us. A real nice group of hikers.
We walked much of the day with Lid and will probably hike with him tomorrow as well.
Saw a guy who was in rough shape and pretty short on water, so we gave him a couple liters. It will be a tough hike for him if he continues. He had the wrong clothes for desert hiking, and pretty overloaded. Hopefully, he can take a good break at Lake Morena and make a plan.
No blisters or real aches and pains. Weather was the warmest it has been in a couple weeks (we are told), but it was still quite nice (maybe probably mid 80s).
We got in around 5pm to the campground. We did not have to push ourselves terribly hard, and we had time for a long lunch break and several other breaks.
At the Lake Morena campground, there are about 25 hikers. We are not staying there, but just a short distance beyond (1/8 of a mile at the most), as the campground does not allow the hanging of anything (not even clothes ) from the trees, so hammocking at the campground didn’t seem to be an option.
Great start. We are both very happy to be out here.
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