We left Lake Morena around 8 am, a little late, we had 2 extra hikers join our cabin last night, from Hong Kong. One had to sleep on the floor.

We also stopped to say goodbye to the Trail Angels there who have been so good to us.

When we 1st left it was pretty easy going, raining on and off.

Then of course we started climbing up. We are not that strong yet and any kind of hill just slows me way down.

What do you see?

I see Jaba the Hut

The rain continues and we keep going up. Loose stones cover the path. We finally hit flat area where it appears that they just did a controlled burn. We hit a bridge underpass and had our 1st water crossing.

You have to be careful with water crossings, this one wasn’t so bad.

We stop for a break at a park, and there is a water spigot , so we fill up. We are told about another park on our way that is going to have trail magic. Cibbets Flat Campground. So we make plans with another hiking couple to meet there.

The rain continues and as we got higher it became an icy mix. It was awful. And we start seeing snowy patches.

We finally get to our turn for the campground and the road is a disaster! We thought now this is it , we are done , we’re there, NO! Sign says 7/10s of a mile more! The road is a mud pit, it’s poring rain and awful wind gusts that push at you.

We get there and there’s a host, we missed trail magic but he has us come into his trailer to warm up. He actually makes us a bean burrito to share! And that was our dinner.

It’s down pouring rain and the tent was getting pretty wet as Al set it up. I was kind of useless because my fingers wouldn’t work. As soon as it was up I was in it wiping it down with my bandanna. Al kept wringing it out as we brought our stuff into it.

There were wind gusts over 60 miles an hour, we were told by the host the next day. Two other hikers had their tents blow down and had to go out into the storm and bang their stakes back in. It was quite a night! We hiked over 13 miles today.

The morning also had its difficulties, but that’s tomorrows post.

Until then be well

We were so excited to leave this morning and get going on our hike. First Camp Lockett gives you an all you can eat breakfast. They charge $15.00 to help pay for everything and whatever money is left over goes to a children’s horse therapy charity and to a Veteran’s charity. They all volunteer their time and are extremely helpful to answer any questions hikers have.

I had two marvelous pancakes which I spread with peanut butter and then cut a banana onto it. I can hear my kids now, “ you don’t like pancakes” well I loved those ones! Papa Bear must have some magic mix. He was one of the trail angels there helping out.

We saw some of the abandoned buildings from the original Camp Lockett, very interesting place.

https://campocleef.org/museum

So the first few miles were easy going, then more ups and downs. After crossing the railroad tracks we weaved up and around a bit. We stopped once for a water refill and took a small snack/lunch break. We made a mistake here, We each filled out water bottles but I have an extra big one we did not fill, and it was hot, we were drinking a lot of water. We did camel up but still had several miles to go till camp.

The path was pretty over grown, with bushes and shrubs pushing in at both sides. I had to wrench my walking sticks out constantly. They pulled and scratched at anything hanging off our packs. It was not fun.

Then we started climbing a bit, it was about a thousand feet but it just about did me in.

We managed 11 miles until we got to our tent site. We had enough water for tomorrow but not enough for dinner that night. I had to beg water from another hiker so we could eat.

We boiled our water to soak our food and then went to set up our tent. Neither one of us could finish our dinner, it was only 8 pm but it had been a long day and all we wanted was to lie down and get warm.

More tomorrow,

Until then be well,

We left Connecticut today very excited to be heading to San Diego to start our thru hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. There is a lot to do and plan when you’re going to be away from home for an extended time. Al has written a 3 page step by step guide for the smooth running of our house.

Joslyn is in charge of paying the bills on time and moving the money where it needs to be.

Russel and Jarrad have said they would take over the twice a day feeding and watering of our poultry flock. We debated about just giving away our birds but with the egg situation the way it is, they wanted to keep them.

I dehydrated many meals and packed hundreds of pounds of food into 14 flat rate shipping boxes. Megan is in charge of mailing them periodically to us at strategic locations along the trail. Mostly after California. Once we get to Oregon and Washington the towns become more spread out and shopping may not be as easy.

We will be gone for several months so we have tried to make time this last week to meet with all of our family that we can. They all assured us of their prayers for us and have expressed their concerns as well. We won’t attempt anything too risky.

I don’t know with certainty that we will accomplish our goals but we are going to give it a good try. Next blog post will be from California.

Until then Be Well!

Al and I have some big plans in 2025. We are planning to thru hike the Pacific Crest Trail.

We leave for the PCT in early March. We wanted our family and friends to know, because we will need your encouragement and prayers along the way.

The PCT stretches from Mexico to Canada and is a little bit longer than the Appalachian Trail at 2650 ish miles.

It has long been a dream of Allen’s to do a long distance hike and the PCT will be it.

I would prefer the AT, it’s kind of in our backyard and I’m more familiar with that one, next time he says!! 😳

We both like to hike and I have enjoyed hiking different sections on the AT and the North Country Trail. We have both completed the Camino de Santiago 3 times. The Camino took us about 5 weeks, its about 500 miles. The PCT will take us much longer, 5 to 6 months. It will also have a different terrain and some elevation we aren’t really used to.

We will both be leaving our jobs. Saying goodbye to our Children, Grandchildren, friends and family for several months.

We have about 8 more weeks to get our house and life in order so we can walk away from it for that length of time.

We also have some health issues to clear up. Last time I hiked, I was with a couple of girlfriends in Virginia we were heading out of Damascus planning on spending several nights in the woods. Early on our 2nd day we were hiking up a moderate size hill I was feeling fine but suddenly I just passed out. That ended our hike. Only recently did I find out that I have had undiagnosed High Blood Pressure.

Al also has a couple of issues, one is with his hip. It has plagued him ever since he fell off the roof and broke his Acetabulum, which is where his hip joint sits. Both of us are semi-retired and we hope to take it slow and complete the whole trail.

We also hope to keep in touch as we have before with a Blog.

If you have any questions or comments we would love to hear them.