Campo to Unpaved Jeep Trail
Happy birthday to me, and what a birthday it was. We awoke in a hotel room in San Diego at 7AM, showered, ate breakfast, and hit the road. We had a 60 mile drive to get to the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) trailhead in Campo, CA. We arrived at the trailhead around 10:40 AM and there was a crowd of people. According to the PCT website 50 people received permits to start their thru-hike, so we expected to see others. We walked up to the monument and waited our turn to take the famous first picture of the hike:
Only 2,650 miles to go!
As it turned out, most of the crowd was the family of a 19ish-year-old seeing him off. There was also another 19ish guy with his father dropping him off. Anyway, we signed the log book and started our hike:
But not before we bid good-bye to Tim who we will see on Sunday at Lake Moreno the 20 mile point.
We started hiking and were feeling pretty good especially at the 1 mile point:
At this point we felt like we could hike forever. Not much past this we were asking each other, "Does your feet hurt some?" "Does your pack feel heavy?" "How is your neck feeling?" Hoping that the others answer will be similar to mine, which was a resounding, "Yes!" Knowing that I wasn't the only one with a but is pain somehow made it feel better as dos it make Barbra feel better. At this point I was feeling good enough to snap the first self-portrait:
And before so if you ask...yes...these are the same exact clothes I wore years ago on our PCT attempt.
Just a little bit further down the trail at mile 3.02 we came across this awesome sign just before we had to cross railroad tracks:
Just a little bit further down the trail at mile 3.02 we came across this awesome sign just before we had to cross railroad tracks:
What a great picture!!
Onward we went meeting plenty of other hikers along the way. We met a 66 year old woman who is "going as far as I can". She had previously rode her bicycle across the US, so I feel pretty confident of her ability. We met a pagan man who was dragging his way overweight 18 year old cousin who was already saying that he hated the hike except for when they stop and take their packs off and he looks around. We met a mother and daughter who stopped at the 9 miles point for their SECOND night on the trail. We met an couple from Lake Placid that stopped a lot and smelled very herbalicious. We met an older couple that was hanging out in the shade. I asked if that was as far as they planned to make it and they said that they were waiting till it cooled off to continue hiking because they were running out of water.
Me: Why? How many liters of water did you leave with?
Him: 6
Me: Hum...we left with 6 each as well.
Him: No...6 total.
Me thinking: What?!? They really thought that they would make it 20 miles to the next water source with only 3 liters of water each, hiking through the desert, and taking 2 days to do it?!?
Me: Good luck. See you tomorrow.
We took about 10 steps and decided to give them one of our waters. Overall it was only 1/2 liter less each, and we felt we had plenty of water, and it did drop one of our bags 2.2 pounds. They looked at it as if it was gold.
Him: We owe you a beer at Lake Moreno.
Me: Woohoo. See you tomorrow at the lake!
Finally we met Eric from Sacramento that was sitting on a rock looking like something was up. He said he was waiting for the Benadryl to work since he got stung by a bee and was allergic. We were worried, but he said he was fine and it has been 30 minutes and the sting site wasn't swollen, so we bid farewell and that we would see him on the trail.
After a few rest stops we finally made it to the jeep road that I knew from 2 years ago had a really nice campsite just down it a bit. We found the site, set up the tent, cooked/ate beans, rice, and Fritos for dinner, then climbed into the tent around 8PM. Kind of early, but it felt great lying down. Oh...before dinner I caught Barbra doing a little campsite yoga:
Onward we went meeting plenty of other hikers along the way. We met a 66 year old woman who is "going as far as I can". She had previously rode her bicycle across the US, so I feel pretty confident of her ability. We met a pagan man who was dragging his way overweight 18 year old cousin who was already saying that he hated the hike except for when they stop and take their packs off and he looks around. We met a mother and daughter who stopped at the 9 miles point for their SECOND night on the trail. We met an couple from Lake Placid that stopped a lot and smelled very herbalicious. We met an older couple that was hanging out in the shade. I asked if that was as far as they planned to make it and they said that they were waiting till it cooled off to continue hiking because they were running out of water.
Me: Why? How many liters of water did you leave with?
Him: 6
Me: Hum...we left with 6 each as well.
Him: No...6 total.
Me thinking: What?!? They really thought that they would make it 20 miles to the next water source with only 3 liters of water each, hiking through the desert, and taking 2 days to do it?!?
Me: Good luck. See you tomorrow.
We took about 10 steps and decided to give them one of our waters. Overall it was only 1/2 liter less each, and we felt we had plenty of water, and it did drop one of our bags 2.2 pounds. They looked at it as if it was gold.
Him: We owe you a beer at Lake Moreno.
Me: Woohoo. See you tomorrow at the lake!
Finally we met Eric from Sacramento that was sitting on a rock looking like something was up. He said he was waiting for the Benadryl to work since he got stung by a bee and was allergic. We were worried, but he said he was fine and it has been 30 minutes and the sting site wasn't swollen, so we bid farewell and that we would see him on the trail.
After a few rest stops we finally made it to the jeep road that I knew from 2 years ago had a really nice campsite just down it a bit. We found the site, set up the tent, cooked/ate beans, rice, and Fritos for dinner, then climbed into the tent around 8PM. Kind of early, but it felt great lying down. Oh...before dinner I caught Barbra doing a little campsite yoga:
As we were about to eat dinner we saw a couple of hikers looking for a campsite. I motioned then over to where I knew there was a nice spot and they decided to join us. We didn't talk much since we were eating when they were setting up and we were in out tents when they were eating, but it was a bit more comforting to know there were a couple of more people close by just in case.
Overall, this has been an awesome 46th birthday. I have an incredible husband that has given me the best birthday gift ever, to drop me off for my hike of a lifetime; I got to spend the day with my lifelong friend Barbra; And I get to sleep in this incredible spot in the middle of nowhere. It doesn't get any better than this!
Keeping with the tradition of my blog 2 years ago, I will leave you with the awesome picture of our campsite for the night:
Overall, this has been an awesome 46th birthday. I have an incredible husband that has given me the best birthday gift ever, to drop me off for my hike of a lifetime; I got to spend the day with my lifelong friend Barbra; And I get to sleep in this incredible spot in the middle of nowhere. It doesn't get any better than this!
Keeping with the tradition of my blog 2 years ago, I will leave you with the awesome picture of our campsite for the night:
We are so happy out here.
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