We started! On Monday morning 4/24 we arrived at the Mexican border at Campo and got our classic photos at the Southern Terminus of the PCT. From there we started walking North.

First day went well, despite already making two wrong turns that added a half mile to our mileage. Luckily due to the uncommonly wet winter, there’s plenty of streams and creeks intersecting the trail for the first 60ish miles. More water on trail = less water to carry. We ended the day camping at Hauser Creek which was thankfully flowing well as it’s usually dry this time of year.

Day 2 was a bit more tough as we began trying to increase our mileage. The extra mileage we put on was definitely worth it as we were able to camp near a waterfall and clean up a bit!

Wednesday was our most brutal day yet with quite a bit of climbing to get into Mount Laguna. It was well worth it as we were able to eat real food at a tavern, rent a tiny house for the night, and shower off.

On Thursday, both my sister and I passed our records on how far we’ve walked on a given day – over 19 miles! We knew there would be a long water carry the next day so we wanted to cover as much mileage as possible while it’s cooler in the evening.

By Friday we were feeling sore, but we had the town of Julian in our sights. We only had one water tank in the desert to fill up on water yet, which means we had our most heavy packs yet, carrying 4-5 liters of water each. To make things worse, this was our hottest day yet. Friday is the day we learned our first lesson about the desert – start hiking as close to sunrise as possible, take a siesta midday to beat the heat, and try and put on as many miles in the evening before making camp. We were able to enough miles to only have a short hike to the road crossing from which we could hitch hike into Julian. Saturday morning, we did our short trek to the road crossing and we’re surprised to find a “trail angel” waiting at the road to give hikers a ride into Julian! Trail angels are great folk who support people hiking the trail by offering supplies, cold drinks, and hitches into town at road crossings. Since Saturday morning, we’ve been relaxing in Julian, letting blisters heal, and getting new shoes that hopefully will give our swollen feet a bit more breathing room to avoid future blisters. Tonight (Sunday), we’ll be hitting the trail again to try and do 10ish miles while it’s still cool. Onward to Idyllwild!

Notable firsts: getting rattled at by a rattle snake! Unfortunately no picture!