and we're off...

 

Day 1 ~ Campo to Lake Morena  Campground, miles 0 - 19.6

I surprisingly got a great night of sleep before our start...I was exhausted and could've slept much longer.  I'm the type who's usually kept awake by excitement/anxiousness, tossing and turning into the night.  Moonshine experienced a bit of that.  Our ride to the border was about an hour and fifteen minutes...I was actually able to sleep most of the ride!  I was  emotionless until the southern Terminus monument came into view, when my stomach filled with what felt like thousands of tiny butterflies, fluttering about in my belly.  Several other hikers were there when we arrived, and they continued to trickle in as we got our things in order and took our standard starting photos at the monument.

The desert flora is just beautiful.  So many unfamiliar flowers, shrubs, and trees, and a few that are familiar (rosemary and sage).  We took pictures of many in hopes of Id-ing them later.  Everything is in bloom and smells so good, and it's definitely causing some allergy symptoms for me.  As for the fauna of the trail, we've seen several lizards.  Moonshine walked right by a baby rattlesnake without noticing it...I actually spotted it (moonshine is usually the wildlife spotter in the group); it didn't coil or rattle, we just walked on by. 

We felt great on the hike.  It was a relatively cool day, in the the 70s...but felt much hotter in the brutal SoCal sun.  We took several breaks where we could find shade.  We talked to a few other hikers, saw several hikers struggling with really heavy packs...people have already been ditching  things (huge jars of peanut butter and other items) on the side of the trail to lose pack weight.

We saw several border patrol agents, in vehicle and chopper.  We had one pretty difficult ascent....we saw a border patrol agent just prior to the climb...he told us that the climb would take approximately 42 minutes; we found his precise time estimate to be  pretty humorous.  We completed the climb in 45...guess he's seen a hiker or  2 complete it. 

There was no water on trail, which we planned on.  We carried plenty (6 liters each) and did not plan to come all the way to Lake Morena, but we were feeling pretty good so we went for it.  It was a super long day.  We rolled in to see soo many hikers here (probably 30, maybe more).  We chatted with a few while cooking dinner, and appointed a couple with trail names. 

A great day on the trail, we are so happy to be living this lifestyle again!  Thanks for reading. Until next time, take care!  And by the way, we plan to add pictures to this and all future posts once we have access to a computer.