Day 2
Start: Hauser Mountain
Finish: Boulder Oaks Campground
Daily Mileage: 17.2
Trip Mileage: 26
The night turned out far colder than I expected. It felt a little chilly even through my sleeping bag which puzzled me until I saw the sheet of ice on my tent from all of the moisture in the air last night. Even my sleeping bag was covered in a film of water.
I was awake as the sun was starting to rise on the horizon and packed up since what else was I going to do? I didn’t necessarily want to get going at the crack of dawn to try to limit my miles, but I figured I could take some bigger breaks. I would need a healthy one to dry out my tent. I couldn’t even shake free the film of ice on it, and it seemed double it’s normal weight as I was packing it away.
Despite the chill, it didn’t seem to cold, and wasn’t hard to get going. As I hiked on, there were a few more campsites, but still no other hikers.
The terrain started out similar to yesterday, winding its way through boulder covered mountains while maintaining an impossibly easy grade. Maybe this trail won’t be all that physically challenging, at least while on treadway.
I did start to pass a bunch of tents with hikers in various states of preparation for the day. That seemed more normal. Apparently I was just a little bit behind the pack.
I took a healthy break on some rocks to dry my tent and enjoy the mountain landscape. There was a butte in front of me which had different colored rocks from every other mountain in the area. It was quite curious, and I wondered how it formed. On my break, I was staring at the exposed trail going up the shoulder of the mountain ahead of me. Though the climb was only about a thousand feet, it was fully exposed and there were no clouds to shelter the sun today. It was definitely warmer than the pleasant hiking weather yesterday.
After a brief jaunt around the top of the ridge, the trail dropped down to the town of Lake Morena which had a store/deli. Of course I stopped for food, and there was a large contingent of hikers out front. I met many, and chatted with them for the first time since I started this hike. The buzz was what to do about the coming storm which will bring snow, wind, and rain while we will be crossing a 6,000 foot mountain. We looked for lodging, but didn’t have any good options available, and it seemed like getting past the mountain and heading into the next town the day the storm started seemed like the best bet.
It was great to meet all of the other hikers, but I had to move on to set myself up to reach the next town without the mileage being too high.
I hiked out of town with Elizabeth and we chatted while winding around in desert lowlands in similar terrain. Not too inspiring, but good to have some company. Eventually, the trail started following a stream with enormous oak trees that must be ancient. I really enjoyed that section even though it was next to a road.
Shortly, I arrived at a campground which lets PCT hikers stay free. There were several hikers there already, and we chatted after I set up camp. Another camper came over and donated several beers to us, and then a car showed up near dark when all of us were gathered for dinner and rolled up a cooler and cookies. What a treat after a warm day.
Great conversation for dinner, and I really enjoyed being in a hiker crowd of like-minded people. Many of them have not hiked long-distance before, so I can share some of my hiking experience. I was apprehensive of the number of people that would be on this trail, but I didn’t actually feel that I saw too many people today or that the campground was too crowded. Maybe this is part of what I was wanting with this trip. Revisiting the social experience I had on the Appalachian Trail. Today really helped turn around my mindset to be uneasy about the people to be open to embrace the people as part of the experience of this trail.
