Ok folks, I've made it the first 20 miles. ML, R, & B dropped me off in Campo at 8 after getting pastries at a panaderia. After about four miles of hiking, I made friends with Ranger, an older gentleman who liked my pace. The weather was perfect: overcast. We camped for the night at about 13.5 miles and got completely drenched in a rainstorm. It rained on us the whole way today to Lake Morena. We met a guy named Macgyver about a mile from the lake and walked with him to the general store where we got a bite to eat and I bouht some butter (forgot the olive oil, d'oh)
I walked down to the campground and met a woman named Mikki and her husband Jake. Jake grilled me on my gear and knowledge, and Mikki informed me that I passed muster. Jon will tell you that before I left I was worried about being scrutinized. So that was a relief.
Found my site and set up camp. I saw some 'celebrities' such as kolby "condor" kirk (i've been following his video blog) and Teddi Boston, the first woman to thru hike the PCT, before it was the PCT. Met the people I'm camping with; Butch (aka wedding dress guy), Jason, Tank, Malarkey, JB, and another fellow by the name Oso Bruto. All the guys are pretty friendly. It was nice to share a beer around the table. I volunteered to help with registration at 9am tomorrow; I figured it would be a good way to see everyone who arrives tomorrow.
Next stop is Warner springs, 89 miles away.
I walked down to the campground and met a woman named Mikki and her husband Jake. Jake grilled me on my gear and knowledge, and Mikki informed me that I passed muster. Jon will tell you that before I left I was worried about being scrutinized. So that was a relief.
Found my site and set up camp. I saw some 'celebrities' such as kolby "condor" kirk (i've been following his video blog) and Teddi Boston, the first woman to thru hike the PCT, before it was the PCT. Met the people I'm camping with; Butch (aka wedding dress guy), Jason, Tank, Malarkey, JB, and another fellow by the name Oso Bruto. All the guys are pretty friendly. It was nice to share a beer around the table. I volunteered to help with registration at 9am tomorrow; I figured it would be a good way to see everyone who arrives tomorrow.
Next stop is Warner springs, 89 miles away.
You seriously met a guy named Macgyver? While backpacking? How do you top that?
ReplyDeletehaha @jonathan.
ReplyDeletestoked that you met the wedding dress guy!!! ethical question: strapless?
andddd.... getting rained on all night would definitely be my biggest fear. is your tent waterproof? how can you hike with all your stuff wet?
@Jonathan, Macgyver got a new trail name. He's now Anchorman because he's always fresh and clean shaven. He carries extra water in the desert so he can bathe at night 8)
ReplyDelete@Katie, Some of his dresses are strapless. One dress is a VeraWang, and he's stoked on wearing it. My tent isn't waterproof per se, but it keeps the rain off me. When your stuff gets wet, you wake up, pack up and start walking. When there is sun, you stop to eat lunch and drape all your stuff on bushes to dry out. There hasn't been any persistent wetness (being the desert...) so this technique works for us :)