Mile Post 0 to 7.7
7.91 Miles
3:36 hrs
1,194 Ft Gain
Click here for location
Can’t say i slept all that well and Amanda confirmed it easily this morning. Sleeping in the heat is going to be difficult for me, it’s never something I have enjoyed. Add to it screech owls, coyotes and a bird that honestly sounds exactly like a late 90’s car alarm and it made for a really long night. None-the-less, we were up and out of our tents this morning at 6 am gathering back under the shelter for a nice breakfast of oatmeal, donuts and half toasted bagels. We milled around for a time talking before our collective anxiety about starting took over and, one by one, we started off towards the trailhead.
Amanda and I left about middle of the pack, making our way up the road. Towards the top we noted a collection of cars and two rangers sitting at a table near the terminus columns. We strolled up, signed the log book and asked if one of the rangers would be willing to take some more pictures of us. She smiled and said yes before snapping a few on my GoPro. From there Amanda and i turned and looked at each other. Trying to capture the gravity of the moment in my mind I said “shall we be off,” and we both turned and headed down the hill back towards camp. It’s hard to believe such a little act would be kicking off such an incredible journey but I suppose that’s how these things always start. We made our way back to the camp where we stopped momentarily so I could purchase a California Fire Permit with the camp's WiFi. Once that was done Amanda and I were on our way again making our way through the low hills around Campo heading north.
The trail continued to wind north but eventually turned west and crossed highway 94. From here we crossed over a set of railroad tracks with an encouraging sign stating “Canada 2567 miles, Mexico 3.” “Got a long way to go,” I thought to myself. From the railroad tracks the path started to climb and the day started to heat up. At the first water crossing we stopped and some of the latter groups caught up to us. We talked as we filled and I passed out some of the brownies my mom had made and we had forgotten to take out before starting. After filling we continued on up, sticking with some of the others for a while and talking as we walked. After a while Amanda and I stopped to take some pictures and the others continued on.
We had decided to keep our first weeks’ itineraries pretty short wanting to give our legs enough time to acclimatize. Today was only going to be about 8.8 miles plus a couple thousand feet of elevation gain to a single campsite identified on the FarOut app. At about 3.5 hours in we passed most of the groups at another watering hole and about half an hour later we arrived at our camp.
The day was about 88 degrees and there was nowhere to hide from the sun. I set-up just the rain fly for some shade and we attempted to lie under that for some time as many of our cohort passed above us. At some point I realized we were just baking under the fly and went to look for some shade which I found just above the tent site next to a rock. Amanda and I moved to the new spot and chilled on the cool rocks for several hours, mutually agreeing to an alpine start the next day.
Eventually the sun dipped low enough to make dinner. I tried, unsuccessfully, to catch a lizard and we made dinner. Once we saw the tent was in shadow and everything had been cleaned up we headed for it to escape the bugs, read and get some sleep for an early and, hopefully, cooler start.
