Day 1
Start: Mexico
Finish: Hauser Mountain
Daily Mileage: 8.8
Trip Mileage: 8.8
I have wanted to hike the Pacific Crest Trail since I hiked the Appalachian Trail way back in 2008. Circumstances finally lined up and I got my opportunity this year and a permit for 3/26 which is a tad earlier than the traditional April start dates, but appealed to me so I could get through the desert before it got too hot and into the Sierra before the snow melt got too high. But you can never know how it will go when applying for the permit in November. It has been a stormy winter though mainly rain. As I start out, I’m not sure what the conditions ahead will hold for me, and if I will encounter impassible obstacles, but I will deal with them as they are dealt.
I spent the night in San Diego after meeting up with some good friends for one last send-off. I took the morning shuttle out to the trail with 4 other prospective thru-hikers – a German couple, Sean, an Australian, and Dan from CA. Sean, Dan, and I chatted for most of the trip which turned into me sharing my long distance backpacking advice since this will be their first long distance trail and differences between The US and Australia.
I got some surprises on the differences between our countries. Sean thought Americans were much friendlier, and was amazed at our “normal” displays of patriotism like with the American flags that fly everywhere. Apparently there isn’t nearly as much patriotism in Australia.
After grabbing some last minute supplies, we were dumped at the border wall and the PCT monument that marks the trail’s terminus. I had seen many pictures of it over the years, and it didn’t seem real to finally see it in person. It was, however, exactly as pictured, so that part of it was straight forward. Sean, Dan, and I took a group shot for our start pictures, collected our permits to put on our packs, and set off on our journey north. Or at least 0.4 miles to the campsite they were staying at for the night so they could start tomorrow which was their start dates.
We had lunch at the campsite with our last town food being sandwiches we strapped to our packs. I am trying to take the start of the trail slow, so we hung out and went through gear and talked for a while. I almost stayed there for the night with the group that was gathering, but I had it in my head that I was going to start my journey today so I wanted to put in at least a few miles.
I left the others and headed off in earnest on the trail. The PCT starts in high desert formed from the decomposition of granite hills. The hills are striking with their mix of desert scrub and white boulders peaking out.
The trail was quite easy with gradual elevation changes. As is typical for me, It didn’t really hit me that I am on the PCT. That will probably happen a few days for now, but it really felt more like a day hike than anything else since I started at around 1 from the campsite.
I can’t really say much about my mood, it was quite muted and I just enjoyed the easy stroll through the landscape that seemed a mix of far north and desert.
I had expected to see loads of hikers on the trail, but only saw 2 actually hiking. One was stopping for the day when we chatted briefly, and I leapfrogged with the other quite a few times. I had been apprehensive about the amount of people on the trail since they allow 50 to start per day, so I was confused, though in a good way. Perhaps everyone starts first thing in the morning from that first campsite. Oh well, I’m not complaining.
The trail wound through the hills, very gradually ascending or descending. So gradual that it was hard to tell. This is normally a dry stretch of trail, but with all of the recent rain there were a fair number of streams flowing and trickles along the way. I stopped at the last one to grab water for the night and my brand new water filter was working oddly. The filter I have has a way to check the integrity of the filter element, so I did that and saw many streams of air bubbles indicating that the filter element was leaking and it wouldn’t effectively filter water. I hadn’t tested it before the trip since the filters are sensitive to being wet and degrading or freezing. I probably should have, but can’t go back now.
I did decide to carry some chemical water treatment as a backup. I nearly left it at home, but it was a last minute decision to bring it along. Glad I did so I have something until I can replace the filter.
I grabbed a campsite shortly after the stream and perched on a rock outcrop to watch the Mexican landscape through the sunset. It felt odd to be alone out here. I had really expected to have many people around me. Not that I can’t handle it, I’ve done a significant amount of solo backpacking for long periods of time. However, I think it was just reality being different from what I had assumed that threw me off.
I am taking this trip one day at a time. I assume I will eventually find some people to hike or camp with, but that is something that needs to happen naturally and aligns with how I want to hike. I could have stayed with the group at the initial campsite today, and I did strongly consider it, but I must also stick with how I want to experience this trip which today was getting some miles in to feel that I had started the trail.
It’s a quiet night. It was windy earlier, but that calmed with the sunset which is common. First night of hopefully many!
2 comments
It was awesome seeing you! We’ll be following along. Good luck buddy!
Awesome! Have fun out there. Let me or Edwin know if you want us to drop you off a new filter haha