Not even a week.

It hasn't even been a week yet, and already we've seen, met, and experienced so many incredible things. It started with the generosity of my mom and dad graciously taking us to Campo last Friday. They got us rooms at Jacumba Hot Springs and we arrived around 6:00 pm (because I made them wait for the mail to arrive first) and we ate a great dinner and went to bed anxiously awaiting our start the next morning. Our alarms went off on Saturday morning, and reality set in that this was all happening! We made the 20 minute drive to the border/trail head, and we were staring at the fence the whole way there. I won't digress on the topic of the fence, but it's a bizarre thing to see. Anywho, we got to the border and after many tears and hugs and pictures, we were off!

Day 1 was also Casey's 29th birthday, and I think she was hating me for making this be how she spent her birthday 😬 Except day one actually went well, and we hiked 12 miles before calling it a day. We met some interesting other thru-hikers already on day one as well!

Days 2-4 were kind of monotonous, not in a bad way, but they started to blur together SO quickly. We woke up on day two, very sore (as was expected) and we took off to the Lake Morena Campground. We had 8 miles to go and naively didn't look at the topography ahead. The climb was steep and the sun was hot. We ultimately descended down to the lake after our 8 miles, and neither of us had ever been so glad to see the shade of a campground. Lunch/siesta time has become an integral part of the day, sleeping your way through the high noon sun. And then you take off for a few more miles before calling it a day. 

Day 3 we "leisurely" woke up at 7:30, as most people get up at 6:00. To be fair, our alarm goes off at 6:00 every day, but that's a smidge too early for us quite yet. But we had already made some trail friends by this point, and as they got to our campground (Boulder Oaks Campground) we knew it was time to move along. We had a 3.5 mile climb until our lunch destination, but Casey's hips and blisters started giving her mega grief. We posted up at Cibbet's Campground for our siesta, and we spent 3 blissful hours here to eat, wash our clothes, and wash ourselves. After our descansa, Casey popped some Advil, blasted some AFI, and we took off for another 4 more miles. En route to our campsite we saw the first person with heat stroke passed out on the trail, and we stopped to give them some of our water. This was a very humbling experience, as the desert is a very serious place. We got to mile 36 and camped out with our friends Vivian and Luis and slept well. 

Day 4 was filled with highs and lows. We started the day with inspiration knowing we would be going into Mount Laguna, as Casey had mail from her grandma to pick up. So naturally our trip to Mount Laguna meant we would treat ourselves to a meal. We hiked the 5 miles there, and ate lunch and drank coffee at the Pine House Cafe (highly recommended). We then started walking towards the post office and got side tracked by the outdoor store. Casey got new socks and insoles to hopefully help her blisters, and after picking up her card we took off for another 5.5 miles. This 5.5 miles turned out to be a huge mistake as Casey's knee then started flaring up because she was walking funny due to the blusters 😕But we finally made it to the Pioneer Mail Picnic Area at mile 53 around 7:00 at night. Those were the darkest miles yet, but at least there were mashed potatoes for dinner, finally! 

We woke up on Day 5 and Casey said she couldn't walk. It was hard to come to terms with, but she was in immense knee pain and it was wise to admit that rest and elevation were in order. We got a ride with Ed into Julian, and he was unbelievably kind. He gave us the 'tour' of the town, gave me aloe, promised Casey a knee brace and promised us a ride back to the trail. We got left at Carmen's the second of many "trail angels" we knew we'd meet (Ed being the first). Carmen runs a restaurant and a place for hikers to crash. We opted for a room at the Julian Hotel, where we then met more unsuspecting trail angels. A nurse and his wife gave Casey a knee wrap and some essential oils to help her heal. Oh and we went to Mom's to get the free pie and drink given to PCT hikers when they show their permit. We had such a nice day meeting so many lovely people. 

Today has been a very leisurely day, with Ed delivering Casey's knee brace and then giving us a tour of the countryside here. It's a beautiful landscape, reminding me a lot of Asturias. And then we got some lunch at a great pizza joint. We are waiting out one more day of rest for Casey's knee to heal up, but are taking off again tomorrow morning at 7:00 am to hopefully make the 30 odd miles to Warner Springs by Sunday night. 

We can't say enough about how great this first week has been, and everyone's words of encouragement have been much appreciated! Casey had a very different birthday, but a memorable one to say the least. We at least got to go out in Phoenix on Thursday night with Alex to see a rad, all female band called Savages and that was super great! So at least that felt like a proper birthday celebration!

Well this was a lengthy post for the first one from the trail, but we had the downtime. So don't expect future ones to be so detailed! Oh and please excuse typos, etc. as writing from a phone is no easy task 😖