April 19. Day 1.

 Mexico border to Lake Morena - mile 20.

What an incredible first day on the trail!

After eggs and goodbyes at my sister's, Libby and I drove the hour and a bit to the southern terminous of the PCT. At the start of the trail there is a monument made of several beams stuck upright in the ground at various heights, all painted white and with an inscription detailing the establishment of the trail. As we first saw the monument up there on the hill in front of the long metal fence marking the border, I was all at once excited and nervous and curious and so happy. There were a few other hikers and their drivers there, and I waited my turn then signed the register in the little metal box bolted to the back side of the monument then Libby took my picture by the monument and next to the border fence.

Then we said our goodbyes and Libby and Abbey drove off back north on the dirt road. I began the walk slowly, trying to pay attention to every detail and every emotion I was feeling, and reflecting on all the preparation and daydreaming that have lead me to this moment. I was particularly struck with a feeling of huge gratitude for all the people along the path of my life who have helped make this moment possible, especially Libby. The first bird of the hike was an Ash-throated Flycatcher, perched right on the border fence doing his little "brrpbrrp" song.

The trail passed through the little town of Campo then up and over some small hills to our first road crossing, hwy 94, followed shortly by some train tracks with an old train from the nearby railway museum giving tourists rides. The desert was quite alive in the building heat of the day, and I was surprised to see or hear 24 bird species in just the first 4 miles of trail (see list below), including what I'm pretty sure was my first Five Striped Sparrow, and a Cooper's Hawk trying to dive bomb a Mourning Dove. I also saw a Rosy Boa about 3 feet long, and what I think was a Gilbert's Skink.

After a short rest around mile 4 both the trail and the temperature climbed. I leapfrogged with several other hikers, exchanging names and the usual other cursory information. A few folks I matched in pace and distance thru the day and chatted with several times were Kim, and 2 class of 2013 AT hikers Pink Leprechaun and The Jesus.

By about 1:30, toward the top of the first real climb of the day, I needed to take siesta, and plopped down in the shade with 2 guys who started just before me, Alfred and Thomas. We chatted for an hour or so, and I tried to nap but was a bit too fired up for sleep. 

Resuming walking, the trail next traversed a high, bowl shaped plateau that was thickly vegetated with various scrub species, beautiful flowering Yucca, and other wildflowers. The walking was pretty easy on nicely graded trail and I was having a blast! Every turn had more wildflowers to check out, and Ash-throated Flycatchers were all along the trail. 

In due time we plunged down into Hauser Canyon around mile 12, with a tall pale rosy rocky peak overlooking the trail. The steepness of the trail now started to bug my knee a bit. I also still had a headache which had started around noon, so when I reached the bottom of the canyon around 4 I had another pack off/shoes off rest under some cottonwoods. I had figured the headache was due to dehydration, but at this point I started to worry that I might be drinking too much and not eating enough, so I had some of my saltiest snacks then began the climb out of the canyon around 4:40. The temperature was beginning to cool and the climb wasn't to bad at the slow pace I kept. The trail topped out and continued along some rolling hills with more thick scrub, yucca and other flowers (mariposa lilies and others) for a few more miles before dropping to the lake Morena campground. Those last 5 or so miles from the bottom of Hauser really dragged on, taking me nearly 3 hours. On the final descent my fatigued legs started to have small twinges of pain here and there, and I concluded that around 17 miles would have been just right for today. Those last miles were also quite beautiful though, and it was so great to be out hiking. The sun was setting with a warm orange glow over mountains to the west, and the light on all the trail side vegetation was perfect.

I made it to the campground right before dark to find a few others around and a cooler with beer. I cleaned up a bit then had dinner and a beer while talking to Ryan, a chef from the Midwest ( sorry Ryan, sometimes it hose states blend together for this west coaster). Finally to bed by 9:30 then this writing has taken a while as Barn and Great-horned Owls call overhead.

Bird list (please excuse the 4-letter codes. That is all I have the energy for now. I hope to insert full species names some time when I'm at a computer. For now, you can search the Internet for "AOU alpha codes" if you want to figure these species out):

ATFL

CALT

SPTO

CATR

MODO

LEGO

OATI -food carry

BEWR

CAQU

BUSH

HOFI

BRBL

WESJ

EUST

HOWR

OCWA

WREN

PHAINOPEPLA (auto correct gets it right!!)

SOSP

CORA

FSSP

COHA 

RTHA

TUVU

BCSP

NOFL

BHGR

GBHE 

BANO

GHOW