Week 1: The beginning- Campo to Mt. Laguna

 Week 1began the learning process. I decided to travel to California by train. I will fly if I have to, but given a choice I'd rather not. I decided to splurge and get a Sleeper, which was a good choice. 

Sleeper is way more comfortable and the meals ( which are great by the way ) are included.

From San Francisco, I took Grayhound to San Diego and then a San Diego transit bus to the village of Campo which only cost $8 for a 50 mile trip ! On the bus I met 4 fellow hikers, Christine from Montreal, a couple from Slovakia, and a young man from Austria. 

From Campo, we hiked a half mile South to the Camp Lockett Equestrian Educational Facility. Camp Lockett was built at the start of World War II to train Cavalry.  It was used as a VA hospital for a while and is currently used as a horse riding school. C.L.E.E.F. allows PCT hikers camp on their property the night before they start the long journey North. They were even kind enough to give us dinner the night before, and breakfast the morning I started hiking.

The first thing everyone does before they start hiking, is take lots of photos at the Monument marking the southern end of the PCT. 

I even stuck my hand through the "Wall" so I could say that part of me has been to Mexico.

 On day 1, I  managed to hike 7.4 miles. Pretty slow. In fact the only guy who was slower than I was Claus, an older German man who only managed 4.5 miles on day 1. 

Day 2 is when I started to realize that this was a LOT harder than I  thought. The first clue was how sore my shoulders were getting ( I found out later it was because my pack was the wrong size ) and then there was the sign at Mile 14.2. The one that says " Push Red Button if you are having an emergency" . 

There was a group of 4 that pushed the button for a rescue the week before I  started. The other thing I started to learn, is "Water Management". The trick is to drink and carry enough water without carrying to much. Here is the basic water math for a through hike. You should drink about 1 Liter of water for every 5 miles you hike, depending on temperature, humidity and terrain, but water weighs 2.2 pounds per Liter, so you really don't want to carry more than you have to.

Day 3 started cool and cloudy with periodic drizzle and it stayed that way all day, which was a good thing. Day 3 was a short, hard day that started with a 1,362 foot climb out of Hauser Canyon,

before descending to Lake Morena.  YAHOOO !! I cleared the Starting Gate ! I call the first 20 miles if the PCT the starting gate because every year a lot of people don't make it to Lake Morena. I read somewhere that about 50 people are develope heat related injuries and need to be rescued before they reach Lake Morena. The cloudy, drizzled weather made for some nice flower photos when I stopped to catch my breath.

I made it to Lake Morena at 10:45. I set up my tent in the park and settled in for the day.

The challenge everyone faced was recharging their electronics. There was only one outlet in the park. I did see two new species of birds: Acorn Woodpecker and California Scrub Jay

Day 4 started off cool and cloudy with some fog, but it cleared up by 10:30. I was hiking with a woman named Catherine,  who is like the Energizer Bunny. She doesn't hike at a fast pace, but she doesn't stop either. We got lost for while leaving Lake Morena because  the trail wasn't well marked. It took us about half a mile to get it straightened out.  We hiked 12.2 miles to a road and then hiked down the road to Yellow Rose Spring. This is where I learned to take the "Notes" in the FarOut App ( the trail navigation App that most hikers use ) with a grain of salt. The App says there is room for one tent. By nightfall there were at least 6 tents near the stream. At this point I had already decided that I needed a new sleeping bag and backpack. I also saw my first Western Bluebird of the hike.

Day 5 was a hard, slow day for me, probably the hardest day of the week if not the whole hike thus far. I only managed 7.4 miles, with my hardest climb yet ( 1713 feet ). That left me exhausted at the end of the day. Catherine hiked on ahead early in the morning and I  hiked with Rachel for the afternoon. 

I ended the day with blistered feet ( on the outside of both heels, a place I have never had blisters ) to match my sore shoulders. We saw a Hummingbird and a Hawk of some kind. After we set up camp, the military gave us an airshow as 3 or 4 helicopters, 2 or 3 tilt wing aircraft and an Air Force transport flew overhead. It was very windy at night, but I  had no problems with my tent.

Day 6 was a short day, for which my blistered feet were very thankful.  Rachel and I  hiked about 5 miles into Mount Laguna, where we ran into Christine ( from Montreal ) and a few other hikers.

We had breakfast at  the Pine House Cafe which is run by a family from France. As could be expected the food was good. There was supposed to be a gear Shop in Mount Laguna, but it was closed. I decided to take a NERO ( Near Zero, aka few trail miles day ) at Mount Laguna and rented a Tiny House.

Rachel hiked on, but Christine also neroed in Mount Laguna. I saw two new species: Steller's Jay and Chestnut-backed Chickadee. The laundry room at the Tiny House Village is set up so you can pay for the washer and dryer by an App. Something I haven't seen anywhere else.

On Day 7, I  decided to Zero  ( in other words take the day off ) in Mount Laguna to heal my blisters ( trust me blisters are bad enough, but when they are on the outside edge of your heels, they hurt like the Dickens ).

The gear store is still closed, but I  shipped some gear I wasn't using home ( I obviously didn't need it, because I  don't remember what it is ) and mailed postcards to relatives and friends. 

I saw my first Pygmy Nuthatch.