5.15.22 || Day 1: 0 - 20.0 miles

tldr; made it to Lake Morena, tired but in one piece :)

Arrived at the terminus in Campo, CA around 9:45am, got a ride from Monica and Bobby our friends who live in San Diego. Spent the day before prepping, packing, repacking, and generally just feeling incredibly anxious. It’s the not knowing what’s going happen that’s both exciting and terrifying.

Started hiking around 10am, sun hoodie and basically a second skin of sunscreen in the 88 degree heat. Wasn’t too dusty, but was super exposed for this first section. Came across a little pond at ~4 miles but we’d already planned a 4 liter water carry to Lake Morena, so we kept on.

Nothing too remarkable happened, didn’t really have any profound thoughts either :) I was focused entirely on watching my step, breathing, conserving my water. The last climb of the day was brutal, but it was only 3-4 miles to Lake Morena so we kept on.

Stayed in a really nice campground at Lake Morena, ate quinoa and tuna for dinner, a few spoonfuls of peanut butter for dessert. Stretched as soon as we got into camp too — trying to make it a habit to stretch every night. Seems to be working OK since I’m not too sore now, but I figure it’ll hit me over the next few days.

“Road work ahead. I sure hope it does!” — thought of this vine in the first hundred feet when I saw a road work sign 😏

🎵: Red (Taylor’s Version)