Day 1 : And so it begins...

Saturday 20th April
Mile 0 to Mile 20 : Campo to Lake Morena
Mileage : 20 trail miles + .75 bonus miles = 20.75

What a day, it took 10.5 hours for me to cover the 20 miles on day 1, the waking speeds were pretty constant at around 2.5mph, but it was impossible to maintain that throughout the day due to intense heat.  The day was one of extreme highs, like when we all got dropped off at the Southern terminal monument and the enormity of the challenge finally sank in, and deep, deep lows, like when we got to the first major climb at the end of the day running low on water and having to go up a steep exposed slope in the hot afternoon sun.
The day started with the alarms going off at 5:30. Nobody had slept very well, i kept having wired dreams; one in which i missed the alarms and got left behind, and another in which the put was actually in France, and all there was for resupply was foie gras and red wine. Weird. We piled into the cars and left in convoy, arriving at the border start point just after 7. After the obligatory photos we hit the trail.

My Pacific Crest TRail hike started at 7:30 20/04/2013.


The adventure begins!



The class of 20th April 2013, I've met so many people so far on the trail I don't remember all the names, i'll put them in when I meet them again, but for the moment from right to me are Dominic, Mr Green, JT and Ben. On the far left is Cat.



Mile 1!



My photography skills are improving!

The first 5 miles were really pleasant, the morning air was cool, and everyone was in high spirits. Both of those lasted til about 10:00, when the trail began a gradual ascent contoring  round a large hill. Even that early in the morning the heat was intense, and here was no breeze to provide respite as we we ascending the leward side. I realised pretty quickly i didn't have enough water to get me through the day. Frodo said take 5, but instead i took 6, and by 13:00 i was down to 1.5 litre. At this point the trail descends into Hauser Canyon before climbing back.up the other side. The climb was only about 360 odd metres, but it was south facing slope and totally exposed.


The first real climb, 350 metres totally exposed to the hot desert sun.

With my water running low i knew i was going to be severely dehydrated gettin to Lake Morena. At the bottom of the canyon is a usually dry crew bed, no-one was expecting water, so there were heart-felt sighs of relief when next to the trail a small post-it  note said there was water in the creek nearby. I imagined a pretty, gurgling creek winding its way down the canyon, but the reality was somewhat different, a sulphury smelling barely moving slime filled stagnant trickle of water greeted us when we made.our way down to the creek bed. But there were no other choice, it was this or nothing. After scrambling down to the water, trying as best as possible to avoid he poison oak that was everywhere, I got out my filter and a few minutes later had litres of perfectly potable water, albeit with a residual sulphury smell of rotten eggs. Water bottles replenished, the slope became just like any other, although as this was the last hill of the day the ascent was slow going. The slope was covex, with a summit hat never seemed to materialisse, but when it finally did i got a fanatic view of Lake Morena below. The final miles were painful, but worth the effort, Lake Morena hqd a fully equipped camping ground meaning i got to go to bed clean, which is quite a luxury on the PCT. After tending to my wounds, one blister and some rucksack hip chafing, it was time.for bed, the plan is to get up at 5:30 again and be on the move by 6 tomorrow will be a max of 16 miles so inshallah i should be finished just after midday. That's all for now, the first day has been fun, but it was intense, so need all the sleep i can got to prepare for tomorrow.


The first view of Lake Morena after a long first day



A word on the other hikers I've met so far

It seems like I've already found a hiker 'family', the members thus far are :

Cat - a solo hiker from the west coast but living in New Zealand

Mr Green - a solo hiker with a penchant for the green and a trail name to match

Ron aka T-rex - all the way from Germany Ron got his name in the first 5 minutes as he does a victory Michael Jackson Thriller victory dance when he gets to the top of a hill, but clearly isn't that convincing as someone mistook it for a T-rex impression

Huckleberry Finn - more to come

Minow - more to come

Dominic - a canadian with an accent stright out of Canadian Bacon.