PCT Day 2 – Magic Moments

Started 07:17 @ MM 20.2 – Lake Morena Campground

Finished 15:55 @ MM 37.7 – Long Canyon Creek

Water – Drank 4L, peed much less (maybe need to drink more tomorrow)

Wildlife – 1 Gopher, 0 Snakes and 0 Bears

Food – Oatmeal, protein bar, gummy Lifesavers, beef jerky, trail mix, pasta & salmon with cheese & broccoli sauce. 

Health – 0 Blisters, 1 sore calf muscle.

My first night sleeping on the trail might best be described as cold, disturbed and a little on the slant. In spite of the fact that I was wearing ear plugs I managed to wake myself up with my own snoring, not once but twice! This is very strange because I never normally snore. The nocturnal hours were also punctuated with persistent pillow chasing and mat slippage. Although this Cuben Fiber stuff is truly magical, it is also an incredibly slippery little sucker and I seem to spend much of the night slithering around in my tent like a wet fish on marble. Finding a bowling green flat pitch is moving upwards in my list of priorities.

 

 
Meanwhile, back on the trail it was the same shit, different day … Where’s the water? How many miles? How much water do I need to carry? … Bla, Bla, Bla! Mostly it’s just walking and sometimes talking. I walked pretty much all morning on my own. A new herd of hikers had formed and we consertined together at water points and then fanned out again along the trail. It was fun and the terrain was pretty easy. At an early afternoon stop at Kitchen Creek Road I headed off trail for one of the day’s rare pees and stumbled upon my very first Trail Magic … a cooler full of ice cold water! A great find that saved a 1 mile round trip off trail to the nearest water source.

 

 
In the afternoon I hiked with my trail buddy Chance. When Chance was completely unperturbed by me clipping my toe nails while he was eating his lunch, I declared that he was cool! After a lunch nap and foot-airing it was a long and hot grind up to  Long Canyon Creek where we had decided to stop for the night rather than press on to Mt. Laguna. Flat space was hard to come buy at this wild pitch but we managed to squeeze 3 tents and 2 cowgirl camps in. We all hurried to get our camp chores done before the sun dipped below the hillside and the desert returned to its frigid nighttime disguise.

 

 
Tomorrow we hit Laguna … I’m told there will be ice cream, but first I need to get through another episode of dancing on ice! Did I mention … It’s fucking freezing in the desert at night!