Part 1, The Desert, Day 1, The Beginning

Day 1: The Beginning

miles: 11.29

I finally made it to the trail and it was an insanely long day. I slept about 1 hour last night before waking up at 5 am to catch my flight to San Diego. At the airport I was singled out by TSA and searched, and they took everything out of my bag and confiscated  my sunscreen. What's their deal anyways? After landing and taking a cab to El Cajon bus station, I met my first two other PCT hikers, two very cool people, Chris and Vanessa from  Victoria, BC, and another nice guy, Matt from Nebraska. We chatted it up on the 2 hour bus ride to Campo, discussing gear, water, etc. Your basic hiker conversation, and when we reached Campo, we walked the 2 miles to the Border to take some pics, sign the register and start hiking. 

There was massive Border Patrol presence, and I stayed at the border for over an hour taking pics. It was just me and miles of fence and desert and it was dead silent except for the wind howling a bit. A very awesome feeling to start hiking North, as the scene was quite lonely and surreal. 

Once I started hiking I was elated; 6 months of planning and training finally coming to fruition, and it felt awesome.

The landscape is what one might expect in the desert, almost like a Wile E Coyote Loony Toons cartoon.

I actually forgot to go back to the Campo General Store to get water from their spigot, so I had to bush-whack down a ridge to Highway 94 and walk about a half mile there. I filled up about 5.5 liters, spilling water all over my pants in the process, to the delight of the locals hanging out in front of the store. After filling 5.5 liters to get through the first 20 dry miles, my pack was so heavy, and the next few hot miles were difficult business, but I got used to the weight. After about four miles, the landscape began to get greener as the elevation rose.

It was beautiful, and I even saw many plants that I see back home, including sage, which I was constantly rubbing in my hands and breathing the aroma.

I had no real plan in terms of mileage today since I started in the late afternoon, so when it was getting dark I broke out my stove and made a Knorr rice sides, chicken fried rice packet. It was disgusting. I knew my trail food would suck, but I couldn't even force this down my throat, it tasted like soap and plastic and sadness. I would later learn that the bad taste was a result of pouring boiling water directly into the bag to soak...oops!

I ate some MM's instead. They were better.

After all that bullshit, I threw on my headlamp, packed up my gear and started hiking, looking for a flat spot to camp. Right as it got dark, I found a downward slanting spot, but I'm tired so maybe it will work. I went up the ridge a bit and watched a killer sunset.

Afterwards, I went back and set up my tent in the dark, serenaded by Border Patrol helicopters flying overhead, and I'm typing this in my tent. I can hear many critters outside, they probably want my MM's, or my Iphone. 

So much happened today that I know I can't relate it all right now. I feel good hiking solo at the moment, and after rationing water today and for tomorrow, I've realized how challenging it will be to stay hydrated in the these first 700 miles of desert. I'm also a bit worried that I'm pushing my body too hard, so I'll have to take more breaks, especially in the brutal mid-day heat, (though its cold right now.) Hopefully I can fall asleep tonight. 

This is all incredibly exciting.