40 Miles of Hiking...

Dennis and I are currently in CA for Mike's graduation from Point Loma Nazarene University this Saturday. We flew in Sunday night to chilly weather. Late Spring is not the time of year to come to southern CA if your seeking a sunny day on the beach. San Diegans call this time of year "May Grey," because of the marine stratus that rolls in every morning which can remain all day, but can give way to some hazy afternoon sunshine. Actually, the weather is about the same as MI right now.

It was one of those May Grey days on Tuesday morning when we started out at 5:30 am to the community of Campo (which isn't much), probably most known for the beginning point of the Pacific Crest Trail. Joni sacrificed sleep and an hour of work to get us there by 7:00 am. Passing a major Border Control unit, we took a dirt road about a mile to reach the Mexico border where we found the PCT marker noting the beginning point of the 2650 mile long trail that runs from the border of Mexico to the border of Canada.

Up for the challenge!

It felt good to get started on the trail just to get moving and keep warm in the damp, misty rain that was coming from the low cloud cover that morning, which stayed with us for most of the day.

Five miles in or so, we took a break to rest our feet and fill up on some granola bars, fruit roll-ups, some amazing granola Kari sent with Josh, and fruit leathers. The most difficult part of the first 20 miles was a 1.4 mile climb at 6.9 grade.

Lunch break - stopping to eat was the best part!

We arrived at our camp spot at 6:00 pm, set up our 2-man tents, and after a bite to eat, we all settled into our sleeping bags at 7:30 - it felt so good to lie down! We woke up at 6:00 the next morning with blue skies and sunshine, which was a welcome sight.

A great spot to shed the shoes and give our feet a rest,
and of course, fill up with some energy food!

Forty miles of hiking covered desert terrain to the pine tree mountain top of Mt. Laguna, the highest point of San Diego at 6000 feet, where we ended our part of the hike. With tired and achy muscles Dennis and I said our goodbyes to Josh and Julie on the trail and parted ways, but not without handing over any leftover goodies in our packs. I admire anyone who can hike day in and day out like that for a entire month, which is exactly what Josh and Julie are doing - 28 more days to go. We started out with a couple and two single guys who plan to hike the entire trail, finishing up in August or September. I wonder if their names will be added to the "2600-Milers" list, the 60% who actually finish a thru-hike.

Although we thoroughly enjoyed the experience, we were happy to head back to San Diego (we dropped a car off at our ending point) looking forward to a nice hot shower and a meal out with Mike and Joni, with a sense of reward for 2 days on the trail.