Although hikers generally get an early start the first day, everyone ended sleeping in due to the late arrivals. The trail angel had hiked the entire trail a few years back, and was very helpful in getting us the last minute items (e.g., stove fuel) that we needed before hitting the trail. He also gave us an introduction to the origin of trail name (nicknames "earned" from fellow hikers while on the trail). Many names stem from food, and his "gender-bending" name Girlscout came from him getting caught with girlscout cookies during the first week of his hike. He drove us about an hour to the border just south of Campo, CA, gave us some last words of advice, and left us to finally start the trail at about 12:30 pm. I stuck my toe under the fence into Mexico (technically the border is 50' beyond the fence) and promptly started off into the desert.
I probably pushed myself harder than was wise the first day since I was starting fresh and over-eager to make progress with the trail. Despite the late start and hiking through the hottest hours of the day without a cloud in sight, I made it about 21 miles to Lake Morena Campground before nightfall (more than a bit exhausted by the end of it all). The scenery wasn't great the first day, but it was enjoyable hiking nonetheless. I thought I was going to be the "heavy" one on the trail since my pack's base weight was 16 lbs (true ultra-lighters are well under 15 lbs), but it turns out that my OCD planning style with spreadsheets galore served me well. I passed a number of hikers that were carrying God-knows-what in the first few hours; most of them seemed happy and well prepared though. Of course you run into all sorts of folk on the trail, and one of them somehow managed to get out there with a 70 lb pack yet just 2 L of water. I couldn't help but give him one of my 1 L bottles with instructions to buy more at his next stop if he didn't want to die. I don't think I was mean about it, but how does one throw themselves into the desert with everything BUT the key essential to life?!
Day 2 had a late start from feeling quite dehydrated after the first day, but I managed to nurse myself back to health and hit the trail strong before 8 am. Progress was pretty fast as I climbed towards the Laguna Mountains, and I even passed some of the water checks (pieces of trail construction installed to prevent erosion from destroying a trail, they basically consist of large slabs of rock buried vertically, most hikers pass by the small fraction of rock that is exposed never realizing how much work goes into preserving a trail) that I helped install with my GT Trailblazers trip to the area in 2008. The scenery improved quite a bit, although I still downed a ton of water given the heat and intense sunshine.
On the third day, I had a much cooler hike at elevation through the forested Laguna Mountains. With a much lighter pack and by going at my own pace, I covered the section from Pioneer Mail Trailhead to Sunrise Trailhead (the last day of hiking for our 2008 Trailblazers trip) in the time between mid-morning snack and lunch. I kept on hiking and eventually decided to just cowboy camp (lay out the sleeping pad and bag under the stars) directly on the trail. It was the best patch of ground around, and I figured no one else would be coming through until after I had already left.
Day 4 started with making breakfast over the quiet alcohol stove without even leaving my sleeping bag. After this brief period to reflect and prepare for the day ahead, I started off on what was by far the most challenging day of hiking. After coming across a water cache with warnings about the dry stretch ahead, I played it safe and packed a whooping 8 L for the long climb. Although the terrain and the pack weight from all of the water absolutely destroyed my feet, I couldn't have asked for better weather. The San Felipe Hills are infamous for sunny 90-100+ degree weather, and I happened to make the trek under the cover of a windy and 60 degree cold front. All said and done, I put in about 30 miles that day before finally collapsing at Barrel Springs Campground (despite the cacophony of frogs at the site's water cistern). I ran into a few more hikers who started the day before me, and we decided to split in on a room at the upcoming Warner Springs.
Although the 10 mile hike to Warner Springs was about as mild and pleasant as one could ask for, I think we were all pretty beat up from the previous day's trekking. Fortunately Warner Springs Resort is very generous to hikers, and we managed to snag a great discount that came out to about $20 pp. After showering just enough to wash four days of grime off, I promptly jumped in the hot springs pool and floated like a corpse for I don't even know how long. Words cannot begin to describe the relaxation of a hot spring soak after four days of self-inflicted abuse. I thought I would head out this morning, but decided to wait out an extra day with the other hikers in my room until the weather subsided. We had a cold front with rain pass through, and we figured that if it's 40s and rainy here it must be freezing several thousand feet up in the mountains where we are headed. I am equipped to survive days below freezing, but I am not equipped to enjoy them. An extra day of rest would probably do my feet well anyhow. I have the muscular endurance to put in 25+ mile days already, but I would be wise to ease up a bit before I damage (e.g., stress fracture) my feet. I think the first 2-3 weeks will be a proving ground to build up my "hiking legs" and to see what I am capable of.
So I realize this is probably way more information than anyone needed, but it's a rainy day without much else to do. I've already spent hours chatting with the other hikers (very interesting group of people to be with, one of the reason why I decided to stay here an extra day). There are two older guys from Austria and Italy along with another guy my age from Utah. I started off from the border with three girls about my age (it would've been nice to keep with them for a while, but our hiking paces just weren't compatible), but unfortunately the majority of the thru-hikers seem to be middle-aged men. It's also been interesting to see that despite all the talk about "crazy thru-hikers", the majority of the people that I've encountered on the trail so far are section hikers from San Diego who are just taking a few days to a few weeks off of work. As for general reflections, it's a bit early to say what this trail has done for me. It is already turning out to be an amazing experience, but most of my thoughts so far have been focused on getting adjusted to the routine of hiking-eating-camping-repeat that dominates trail life. Although I probably have a few cold days ahead of me, I can say that packing as light as possible has been very liberating. It's great to be able to reach into my bag and pull out exactly what I need because there aren't extraneous items to distract my grasp. From the technology standpoint, I was surprised by how little I missed my phone, my Facebook, and my oh-no-better-check-email-every-5-minutes. Of course I'm catching up with the outside world a few days ahead of schedule, but I think I'll take the opportunity now and then skip my email/blogging when I get to Idyllwild.
So all-in-all things are going well, and this extra day of rest will probably do me a lot of good in the long run. I'm eager to hit the trail again tomorrow morning, and I will try to get another post in after another week or so (probably at Big Bear Lake).
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