JackandBarb - Pacific Crest Trail Journal - 2011
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Jack and Barb
City: Encinitas
State: CA
Country: USA
Begins: Apr 17, 2011
Direction: Northbound
Daily Summary
Date: Mon, Apr 18th, 2011
Start: Hwy 94
End: Lake Morena
Daily Distance: 17.3
Trip Distance: 19.6
Hours Hiked: 7
Min Temp: 44
Max Temp: 73
Journal Stats
Entry Visits: 2,103
Journal Visits: 388,733
Guestbook Views: 167,251
Guestbook Entrys: 482
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where's the snake?
Campo to Lake Morena
Last Sunday was a hectic day (8.8 on the stressOmeter). We had to clean the house and pack the vehicles for our 1 week slack packing trip to Warner Springs.We left one car at Lake Morena and took the Prius to Campo. At mile 0 we shot some pictures and some video (movie coming soon) and decided to hike the first short stretch out to the highway, a mere 2.3 miles. So, on April 17th at 4:07 pm our journey north to Canada began.
Yes, it started with a whimper, only 2.3 miles, also called a *nero* or near zero mile day. We did this for 2 reasons: 1) We avoided leaving our car by the border fence all day and 2) we could reduce our 20 mile trip on Monday by 2.3 (every little bit helps)
On the trail we had a nice chat with two border agents and saw a very cool rattle snake track (damn, day 1 and only tracks, where are the snakes?) .
When we reached the highway there was very little traffic but we were determined to try our luck to get a hitch back to the car. The ride bride was again in true form - first car, a jeep with 2 guys picked us up and took us all the way back to mile marker 0 - definitely a good omen for the rest of the trip. Thanks guys!
We have to say we are experts at car camping. We have a stove, a barbecue, a lantern, two ice chests and lots of good food. Rather than pitch a tent, we sleep on air pads in the back of the truck - Oh, its gonna be hard on May first when the real deal starts!
Monday we woke up early and drove the prius down to the highway where we were the day before. Funny, it's a 17 mile hike but only a 6 mile drive back to Lake Morena . Our first real day on the trail was perfect - overcast with cool weather and we were traveling light with day packs. The hills were dotted with gorgeous spring flowers, all the little creeks were flowing, and up on the mesa near mile 9, it was a scene from a hobbit movie, with burnt trees and misty air. Our first day it was, in a word spectacular!
Some side notes - phone reception is intermittent but our spot device will show our location every evening. We have many great pictures and will try and upload them soon. It's well past hiker midnight (9 pm) so, good night everyone... JnB
