PCT 2023 - Day 1: And we are off!

📍 Location: Campo to Just short of Hauser Creek.

🥾 PCT Mile Marker: 11.4 / elevation 3396ft

☀️ Weather: Weird! Woke up this morning everything was frozen. The first 4 miles it was overcast and perfect but then the sun broke out and it got hot! We were walking in 35 degrees and carrying heavy loads. Quite tough and hard going but the scenery and company made up for it!

⛑️ Health / Physical / Mental: very positive today. Feel good but I’m filthy and smelly which is a mental struggle for me.

🍲 Food: CLEEF campsite delivered an amazing breakfast of pastries, bagels, and coffee. Lunch was a packet of nuts and a nature valley bar, then spicy pork noodles for dinner which was yummy.

💤 Sleep: slept ok last night but it was very cold. My feet were freezing even though I had my down booties on. I just couldn’t get warm.

💰Money: $22 on my Wise card for shipping a bounce box to Mount Laguna (around mile 40).

🐍 Snake count: zero! I was paranoid all day especially as the weather got hot! Every stick was a snake!

👨 People update: We have such a lovely group of people as we are in the bubble. There are four Brits (me, Sam, Harry & Amber). I’ve walked with DinkyDi from Oz all day today which has been great. Brian (aka Captain Cook) from the US has the same tent as me so we geeked out. At our tent site tonight we have 12 of us which is great. We all ate together and chatted around an unlit camp fire.

LEARNINGS:-

I learned that being filthy is a real issue for me and I need to get over it! They all laughed as I heated up water and gave myself a wash. You should have seen the grime coming off my body, especially my legs! I’m going to purchase wet wipes as soon as I can. My clothes are disgusting and it’s only day one!

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THE LONG WINDED VERSION:-

🍳 6.30am - An awesome breakfast at CLEEF campsite and a great atmosphere as we waved people off on their PCT journey. I used a bagel slicer for the first time (small things eh?). Coffee was the best!

🇺🇸 7.44am - Gave John (US) my spare hiking pole as his had broken and he needed one for his tent.

🏋️‍♀️ 8.05am - and we are off! Boy this pack feels heavy. Trevor weighed my pack at CLEEF and it was 22lbs with food but without water but it still felt heavy. And no, I’m not giving up my chair. Well, not yet anyway.

🕺 8.15am - Mile marker one! We stop to take the iconic photo of the 1 mile sign and bump into Harry & Amber, two Brits from Reading. Amber does a “Chandler Dance” with me at the sign (from Friends programme).

✉️ 8.30 - Im walking with DinkyDi from Oz and we have a really good chat. She’s great company. We walk about a mile and arrive at the post office. From here I can post my bounce box which I’d also been carrying since the campsite. It took a while, and I had to throw some bits into a hiker box as it wouldn’t all fit into a large Priority Mail Box. I cover it with bright pink duct tape and wave goodbye to my comfort items. See you at Mount Laguna!

9.20am - DinkyDi had sent her spare phone home to Oz at the post office and then we continued to hike together. One of my goals for this hike is to slow down and find a geocache. Dinky Di helped me find one at mile 2 which was hidden in the bushes.

9.30am - We hit the famous train track at mile three. DinkyDi and I celebrate by doing a chandler dance!

10.20am What’s that? Two random weird statue things are looking at us from a rock. They are about 6 inches high, have a big head and one toe. It’s strange the things you spot on the trail! We hear a noise behind us and we are introduced to yet another Brit, Sam from Maidenhead. He’s a real character, around 30 years old and very chatty. Our little group of three hike together for a few miles.

🦶 10.40 - Sam, Di and I reach our first water crossing. I fell in the creek but in all honesty, it was lovely to have cold wet feet as they were so hot!

10.42 - Not long after the creek we bumped into two locals. They warmed us about the river crossings in the next few days. Apparently one goes up to your waste! Eeek!

☀️ 1.20pm - It’s now very hot and I’m drinking water like it’s going out of fashion. This desert hiking is beautiful and the views are amazing but the heat zaps your energy. We decide to stop for lunch at the next creek. We are in “the bubble” which means there is a big group of us that constantly leap frog each other. Id say the bubble is around 30 people. We spot out friend Sara (HYOH hair cut lady) who is sitting on a rock. She has had a fall and grazed her legs and cut her knee open.we patched her up and decided to stop here for lunch and keep her company. Sam continued on.

The switchbacks here are great and nothing like climbing mountains in the UK. They sort of weave back and forth at a gradual incline and before you know it we are at the top of another peak. There is water everywhere so I’m carrying about 2.5 litres at the moment rather than the six that I had originally planned for.

🏕️ 4pm - DinkyDi and I stumbled upon a group of hikers at Mike marker 11.4 and we decided to stop and camp with them. We have 10 tents in an area for for three so it’s a bit cozy!

🙏 Grateful: To DinkyDi for walking with me and keeping me company.Read more