Day 1-3: Getting into the groove

Days 1-3
Mile 1-59.5 Mexican border - sunrise trail

We spent Saturday night at Frodo and Scouts house. It was awesome! They made us stuffed shells with salad and French bread. We even got brownies and ice cream afterwords. Three other people stayed there with us, Amber, Sabastian, and Cam. Cam is on a mission to complete 15000 trail miles in 18 months and he's halfway there. So cool. We were driven to the border and we started with Cam and Sabastian around 750am, but they were both ultralight hikers and went on ahead of us.



Around mile 2, we found that one of the bladders that came with our filter was leaking. Nothing a little duct tape couldn't solve. The first 14 miles were very easy. We are used to doing steep hikes in Utah and the flat terrain was easier than we were expecting. It did get pretty hot during the day and we were in an exposed area so there was not much shade. We descended into Hauser creek and took a break there with a lot of poison oak. We avoided it but soon found out it had been on the trail for the past half mile. None of us had a reaction so that was quite lucky. Miles 15-17 were hyped up to being really difficult and steep, but we found them to be no different then the trails at home. Nate doesn't do well with the heat so he was pretty tired by the end of the day. We vowed to get up earlier to hike more in the earlier cool hours. We spent the night at lake morena with a few hikers, Sanjay, Steve, and three others that we didn't get names of.



We woke up and got going on day 2 by 7. The first half of the day was great. We did 11 miles and took a break by a stream and got water. In this desert environment, it's important to understand that two things control what you have to do everyday. You have to get water and you have to camp somewhere. Out here there is a lack of both, and very few spots with both water and a place to sleep. During our break we weighed our options of either stocking up on water an sleeping further down the trail or sleeping where we got water. We decided we wanted to try to make it to a campground with water about 10miles away. After a few miles though the heat got to nate and we decided to head to a closer water source with a meadow to sleep in. We passed a flowing creek on the way and, not wanting to carry extra water weight, just kept the few liters we had. When we got to the meadow (which was half a mile off trail) the water source was dry. We now had to hike the half mile back to the trail and get to the original campground we planned on first. We got there just as the sun was going down and set up camp quickly. The camp hosts there were really nice and offered us hot coffee and a stove and blankets.









Today was much better. We started hiking At 630. It was really windy all day. I love the wind and Nate loves not being hot so we were both happy. Most of the day was spent on a ridge.



We are also entering a stretch where water is scarce so we had to choose from some interesting and sketchy water sources. We had the choice of brown water, a faucet with about 50 bees surrounding it, or a horse trough.



We hiked 18 miles before 3 and decided to set up camp early to relax and write. We are camped alone near the horse trough and were hoping tonight is not too windy.



Our bodies feel good. We both have minor foot pain and blisters in our thumbs from our hiking poles, but besides that we are physically doing great. We have seen tons of lizards, birds, squirrels, and bugs. We have also seen about 10 snakes. One rattler was right next to the trail and I almost stabbed it with my hiking pole. It was really pissed and it's rattle scared the shit out of both of us. No matter how many times you hear it, it still makes you jump. Our first stop is in Warner springs and we should be there on Friday. We are going to keep getting up early to try to beat the heat. We are loving this!

-Jenna
Be free