Chapter 1: The Desert - Day 1 (Campo to Lake Moreno; miles 0-20)

Today started out like any other day in my life, as I swatted the alarm in a futile attempt to reclaim the last moments of sleep from the departing evening. However, most mornings I am not in a gracious stranger's house in San Diego awaiting a departure on the PCT. Erin and I shot out of bed after our initial snooze and finished putting our packs together. Frodo was already awake and cooking a massive breakfast. Scout hustled four of us into a van for the hour-long shuttle to the southern terminus of the trail. Diego  Christian, Erin and myself were later joined by spoon man in Scout's van, drove past Lake Morena to the border, and the butterflies kicked in.

At the monument on the US-Mexico border. 

Erin and I at the PCT monumnent. 

Group photo at the southern monument. 

 

 

 
After some group photos at the monument, we began hiking. The first mile slid by in a surreal fashion, with live oaks dotting the desert scrub. 

First trail sign. 

Erin and I at the first mile marker. Only 2,649 to go!

 

 

We traversed a wet arroyo, with some inkling that this was the last water we would see until the end of the day. Thankfully I did not shy away from tanking up pre-departure and was saddled down with 6L of the wet stuff (not to mention 16 oz of fuel and a few drams of Maker's Mark). We started a rolling benched climb through open, xeric land around  mile 3, contoured across a nice topographic bench that afforded nice views of the US-MX border, then switched drainages to view Morena Butte and the Laguna mountains to the north.

A sign warning travelers of the dangers of desert travel. "It's not worth the effort," they say. 

Descending into Hauser Creek, with Morena Butte in the background. 

 

 We leapfrogged with different groups of hikers all day, each one with a seemingly different work-rest strategy. We tried the 2h on-20m off strategy, which worked reasonably well at the start of the day. One such break time happened right at the bottom of the big climb of the day,  a nasty 2.5 mile, 6.5 percent grade exposed set of long switchbacks in the heat of the day. Rather than mull about at the bottom of the hill, we pressed on. Erin started feeling the effects of theheat, so we slackened our pace. Upon reaching the saddle, we found out (as usual) that there was another good bit of climbing to do.

View of the trail at the saddle with a blooming yucca, looking west towards Morena Butte. 

 

 I tried to cheer Erin up, who was getting weary after the big effort on the first day. Her silence and occasional grumbles told me I was on the right track. We finally saw our destination, the southwest corner of Lake Moreno, lying a mere 2.5 miles of gently graded, downhill trail away. We pulled into camp at 1730, set up shop, and were briskly shooed off by a semi -incredulous ranger, as we set up in some non-PCT campsites. An hour and a half later, we were full of a concoction of red beans &rice, pork fu, and Chinese black mushrooms as we talked shop with our newfound amigos. We had some whiskey, and all was good. Now, to see if we can walk in the morning...