PCT Day 1

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PCT Day 1, 13 May 2022 (Friday)

Season 1, Episode 1 - "The One Where Dan Starts Hiking"

Start Location:	Campo, CA	Destination:	Lake Morena
PCT Miles Day 1:	20	Cum PCT Miles:	20
Non-PCT Miles Day 1:	1.4	Cum All Miles:	21.4
PCT Miles Remaining:	2,632.6
Elevation Gain Day 1:	2,532	Cum Elevation Gain:	2,532

First of all, I'd like to thank Randy L. for the ride to Campo. And thanks to Pam R. for coming along to see me off. 

I am posting this on Monday, May 16 because this is the first connection I’ve had in four days.  The Wi-Fi connection I have is pretty bad so this is probably going to look messy.

Ok, so far, so good…kind of.  My goal was to hike 20 miles to Lake Morena in 9 hours.  But that’s when I thought it was going to be 85 degrees. It ended up being at least 95 degrees, so it took a bit longer…it took 9 hours and 7 minutes.  There also was no water on the trail today (there was water off the trail, but it would've been three total miles to get to the water and back to the trail).  I was definitely tired when I got to camp.  Everyone I saw today was suffering, and for many of them, it was actually their second day on trail.

 

The truth is today was kind of brutal.  From Mile 15-18 there is a pretty difficult climb out of Hauser Canyon.  On paper it doesn't look that hard, but when you've already hiked 15 miles in extreme heat on the first day of the PCT, you are low on water, and there is almost no place to hide from the blazing sun, those three miles going up the canyon are punishing.  I was around a bubble of about a dozen hikers--all much younger than me--and everyone going up the canyon was stopping for mini breaks about every 1/3 mile, or whenever they could find sufficient shade under a larger rock, which was rare.

I passed several, seemingly not very fit, hikers throughout the day that I was sure would end their PCT hike either today or in the next several days.  Hiking long miles in hot weather with little water is not easy, even for very fit hikers.  After watching videos and reading blogs/journals/posts, people are enticed by the allure and adventure of hiking the PCT, but easily underestimate the physical difficulty of hiking in these conditions.  The few really despondent looking hikers I saw today, definitely were not prepared.

 

While trying to sleep, I had pretty severe calf, hamstring, thigh, and abdominal muscle cramps.  A sure sign I got dehydrated today, although, after getting to Lake Morena, I did drink about a gallon of water and soda at the Oak Shores Malt Shop.  All in all, it’s the kind of day that makes every first time long-distance hiker ask two inevitable questions: What the heck am I doing and was this the best decision?

At the PCT Southern Terminus in Campo, CA



Pam and Randy



The obligatory and iconic Mile 1 marker. If you don’t take this picture PCTA will revoke your long-distance hiking permit… But somehow, I managed to botch this pic.



The, also, obligatory Mile 3 photo indicating you are right on track.

Still not lost



Is that me after only 12 miles, or is it the smell of burnt Manzanita? My finger is pointing at you Manzanita.



Typical Day 1 trail



Landscape on the way to Lake Morena

BTW: I am updating this blog using only my cell phone, so please excuse any typos and formatting messiness. I debated a bit about how best to keep a PCT journal, and decided creating my own website using Google's free Blogger tool was what gave me the most flexibility to create a blog that would be organized and, hopefully, easy to follow. Since I'm not trying to make any money on this blog, I didn't really want to pay for something more professional like WordPress. While Instagram is easy to use, I couldn't really organize it the way I wanted. I wanted to use the Trailjournals.com website, but it's way too hard to add photos using a phone, or for that matter even, a desktop computer. So, my conclusion was that a messy, unprofessional website of my own creation was the best option. Hey, don't let perfect be the enemy of good enough.

 

L

I'm Supposed To Update My Blog Using This?

 

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