Left Lake Morena at about 8:30 for the climb to Mt. Laguna.

The random highlights of the day, or at least how I saw them:

Passed a yard full of old, abandoned cars and appliances. I love these kind of displays because the homeowners are presenting their history to the public. History is always cool. As well, there is a sweet optimism that function will one day return to the abandoned hulks.

Next, I saw a teenaged boy shouting to the wind from his back yard – something about fairness.

And, so, the miles went past. Trail science came into play. Trying to pick out where the pass will split the mountain ahead. Where to place your feet every step, million of times without consciously thinking about the placement. Not dwelling on the consequences of a really bad placement. I thought of the Latin root of the word funner which is flatusnlroca or FNR – flat no rocks. This being the ideal trail, thus a trail that is flat and has no rocks is always funner.

I crossed under two bridges of the East/West 8 Freeway going South to North and in essence made the sign of the Greek Orthodox Cross.

As I climbed upward, paralleling a rare desert canyon with flowing water, I thought about the introvert/extrovert nature of hiking. How it really is the perfect balance between the two. How at times hiking requires you to be very social, while at other times it demands solitude. And then I gave up all thinking to focus on the artistry of a chocolate shake that awaited me in the next town.

It being a low snow year, many of the stream beds are dry. The Kitchen Falls were so truncated that the fall was over before the water knew it had fallen. Water stops for resupply were quite stretched out but never an issue.

Passed a Marine helicopter crash site with a sign warning of unexploded ordinance around the trail.

By the afternoon I had fallen in with Orbit, a speed demon hiker wearing a bow tie, which was good because the final climb to Mt. Laguna was tough. Twenty-one miles today, most of them earned.

A late arrival, followed by an errant pass of the camping area by half a mile, put any mention of a cooked dinner out of the question. And so it was fish tacos in a warm restaurant while a hard wind blew against the door.

Steve Halteman
On the Pacific Crest Trail
Hiking the PCT for the Kids of Escuela Verde

If you’d like to help out and donate, please click here!

Arrived at the border fence late courtesy of my sister Jill’s shuttle. Took the obligatory snaps. Hope the septic truck that pulled up was not an omen.

Then turned north and took a step.

And started thinking about the fence. What’s the point. As a practical matter, fences/walls between countries don’t work unless they are extensively manned. People cross the Mexican fence at will, which is obvious from the amount of debris on the trail. Maybe it’s just emotional succor. Here’s the line. You all stay over there. We’ll be over here, sleeping just a little bit better. Let’s keep it that way. Funny.

The terrain was undulating boulder fields interspersed with scrub. Lots of pulverized granite. Very beautiful. Lots of wildflowers painting their landscapes. Not overly warm, unless you didn’t grow up in it.

The miles slid past. As it was the first day, lots of tweaking was going on. Which gear to put where, adjusting the pack as well as gait. One blister, but the big whine was my food poisoning/stomach virus/Irish flu’s refusal to stop ricocheting around my gut. Took the pep right out of the step.

Some have asked if I’m hiking alone. Yes and No. Yes, I am on my own and was so all day, with two exceptions. The father carries the son, then the son carries the father. Just a wee bit of what is left of my Dad is along for the ride prix viagra sublingual. He’s still excellent company. And, two, because we are all in the same social subset, fellow hikers are much more open and accepting than regular society. Today I met seven hikers heading north.

The songfection of the day was a song by Smashing Pumpkins about the killer in you. For those of us who grew up with MTV and believe there should be a constant soundtrack playing in the background as we make our way, you understand what I am talking about. For the others, a songfection is a single song that infects your brain and plays over and over again in a continuous loop. It is maddening until you just accept it and just listen. Actually, needed music today as I was running down at mile 15 just as a big climb presented itself. I had put my 16 year old niece, Madison, in charge of my music selection. So I popped in the earphones. Don’t know about techno in the real world, but it sure as (Mom censor) gets you up a mountain. If there were rattlesnakes, I didn’t hear them.

Mystery of the day. Many of the rocks along the way had holes drilled in them. There was no reason to do any blasting that I could see, nor any reason to take core samples. Couldn’t figure it out so I went back to the Pumpkins.

Arrived at Lake Morena Campground after 20 miles. Maybe a little less than my starting weight of 193 lbs. Had Vietnamese ramen, Japanese curry and seaweed soup for dinner. All systems worked great. Went to bed listening to coyotes. Woke up to wild turkeys. All good.

Steve Halteman
On the Pacific Crest Trail
Hiking the PCT for the Kids of Escuela Verde

If you’d like to help out and donate, please click here!