Sunday.May 19th.11:15pm.Day 2.Mile 40

We got through our first two days in one piece (more or less)! Despite the expected aches, pains and soreness throughout the majority of our bodies, all three of us have been considerably lucky with blisters and other ailments of that sort. The biggest obstacle we are encountering is heat, which reaches high 80’s during the daytime. The other challenge has been lack of water. We went 20 miles the first day without any water sources and today was a similar situation. We have all been eating voraciously, in part to lighten our packs, but for the most part we are just so darn hungry all the time. Overall, morale is good as we learn the ins and outs of life on the trail.

Yesterday morning my dad (Peter) drove us to the Mexican border where we touched the fence, took a few pictures by the Southern Terminus monument, signed the trail manifesto and were off hiking by 7 am. We walked until about 2 pm when the sun was becoming uncomfortably warm. To remedy this, we found a shady spot and Carter and I took a siesta while Gus picked ticks off of our sleeping pads. Reenergized after rest and sustenance, we finished off the day strong and stayed at Lake Morena county park where Papa Peter helped us out once again and took us out to a delicious dinner at the Campo diner.

Today was a bit harder and alot hotter as we traversed our way up and over the Laguna mountain range. Even though we got a relatively early start at 7 am, we had only gone 11 miles before our Pacific Northwest bodies found the temperature unbearable and we found a large rock to sit under as we waited out the heat.

We escaped the major heat of the day but also ended up reaching camp at 9:30 pm, something that we hope to remedy in the future by getting more miles out of the way earlier in the morning before the heat kicks in. We ll try this tactic tomorrow with a 4:30 am wake up call.
Until next time, Elena