April 11, 2021
Day 1
Miles 0.0-11.4
PCT Day!
I can't believe it's real! I'm really out here doing it! This dream I've been wanting for years. And today it became real. I have so much love and gratitude for the world and the possibilities it can offer.
My best friend, Elizabeth, graciously agreed to drive me down to the southern terminus to start my hike. We live in the San Francisco Bay Area, so it was about a 10 hour drive that we broke up between 2 days to get down here. It was a fun drive that was filled with a lot of laughter and singing amidst some nervous excited energy. We stayed at her brother's house in San Diego, a little over an hour drive from the terminus.
I woke up early. I had set multiple alarms to make sure I didn't oversleep. That was unnecessary. I jumped out of bed wide awake and quickly and easily got ready. I had laid my clothes out last night and my backpack had been packed for days already. I sat on the floor carefully braiding my hair when Elizabeth came down. We slipped out of the house just before 7 and made our way towards Campo, where we would find the trailhead.
We spent about half an hour at the Southern Terminus monument. We took photos, I signed the logbook, and we prolonged our departures from each other as long as reasonable. Now that my feet were finally on the trail, I was nervous to say goodbye and start walking. But with a final hug and words of encouragement, Elizabeth sent me on my way and I took my first steps on the Pacific Crest Trail.
It was a warm sunny day, a perfect day for a hike. Quite a few people had started their hike today, too. I had long moments of solitude on the trail and then suddenly would come up behind someone or turn back and see people coming towards me. It thought it was beautiful seeing so many people out here for the exact same reason I was. I don't know who they are, and likely won't find out, but we all share this same desire.
The trail wound its way through low hills and desert scrub. I had planned to start slow and keep my daily mileage low (relative to thru-hiker standards - apparently I'm going to get to the point where it will be hard to do less than 25 miles/day!) for the first couple of weeks. I want to be careful by easing my way into this new daily routine and lower my risk for injury. So I walked easily, trying to soak it all in as best I could.
I got to see my first rattlesnake on the trail today. It was absolutely beautiful! And huge! It looked to be about 4ft long and as thick as my forearm, with the most beautiful orange coloring and black and white banded tail.
I took a break down by a cow pond, a little less than half a mile off trail. This was a fantastic little side trail and I am so glad I took it. There were a few other people down by the pond and I recognized a couple who had been at the monument at the same time I was - Elizabeth had actually taken their photo for them. I went to collect some water from the pond and found a garter snake! It was in the water, resting its head on a bit of vegetation floating on the surface. As I stared at it I saw another. And another! There were garter snakes all over the pond! Some stayed still with their heads just poking above the surface and others were swimming and looked like thin ribbons as they moved through the water.
After my break, I continued hiking and joined the couple from earlier. Their names were Lauren and "Slice." They were really cool and very interesting to talk to. We hiked the rest of the day together and are sharing the same campsite. They had similar ideas as me for daily mileage goals so I hoped I could hike with them for longer.
We chose a small clearing marked on Guthooks to set up camp. Several other people joined us as well and it was a bit of a tight squeeze. While we all prepared and ate our dinners, we shared a bit about ourselves and some stories. I had known Jacky and Kyle already - months ago we had figured out we were starting the same day and were part of a facebook group chat with a few other. "Mr. Tea" was the oldest of our camp collective and had been backpacking all his life. He got his trail name from his habit of drinking tea on trail.
I broke away from the group for a few minutes to walk down the trail to see if I could catch a better view of the sunset. I was enjoying this group so much, but I also wanted to take a couple minutes for myself. I needed to let this moment sink in.
I was here. Finally. I couldn't wait for another day.
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