Embarking on Adventure: PCT
Planning for the PCT, and our second thru hike, was far less than that of the AT. Riveter had decided to hike with a portion of the AT tramily, but Speed Goat had been on fence for months… and months. It was only in January that she decided to join the crew for a May start. Ironic that she basically begged Riveter to thru hike the AT with her, and now Riveter was the one trying to bring her along on the PCT.
There were a few reasons that we did not prepare as heavily. The first being hubris of having completed a thru hike before and starting with a group 7 other hikers who felt like a safety net. Instead of spending hours researching gear and packing resupply boxes, we were both consumed with the other pre-trail stuff that is not as talked about. This includes: quitting your job, moving, visiting family/friends, physical training, finding health insurance, combining 401Ks, ect. Both of us rent apartments which leaves the big question of what to do - continue to rent or move items into storage? Riveter was moving cross country from Idaho to North Carolina where she would leave her van, Rosie, at their parents’ home.
To add to this, two of our sisters were graduating in the spring. We wanted to attend the graduations but also avoid starting trail then taking days off to fly back to the east coast. That was a lesson learned on the AT! This promoted our start date of mid-May, the day after the final graduation.
The day we stepped foot at Campo and CLEEF campground, we had woken up in Chicago Illinois. We were the last ones to join the group in California as the rest of the trail family had arrived a couple days prior. Our first day on the PCT was a big one… 0.5 miles from the southern terminus back to CLEEF.
Half of our tramily continued on that afternoon and the other half, including us, stayed at CLEEF to set out on the 20 miles to Lake Morena the next day.
CLEEF is a phenomenal experience with lots of hiker amenities. You get to meet all the other hikers nervously waiting to set off and chat with the camp hosts who are former PCT hikers and well-known trail angels. They even lead a ‘Camp Fire Chat’ every night that gives a deeper perspective to thru hiking besides leave no trace. This was easily one of our favorite parts about staying there, besides the pancakes in the morning!
We had obtained a new tent for this hike. So naturally we thought the best time to set it up together for the FIRST time would be that night! Our Duplex was pitched perfectly, you could “bounce a quarter off of it”. It was Speed Goat’s leaky air pad that was the problem…
We woke up the next day at 6:30 am. The night had been much colder than we anticipated, the thermometer reading 34 degrees F. Papa Bear made chocolate chip, walnut pancakes for all the hikers and honestly we spent the rest of trail chasing that hight! After carb-loading, we weighed our packs, filled our water bottles, and took off into the desert.
We ran into the other half of the group by lunch. We took a couple hours to enjoy our first trail meal and take some respite from the desert sun. Although the day started cold, it did not take long for the heat to set in. We learned you do NOT take shade for granted on the PCT. We finished our lunch and started our first climb on the trail, which was made easier by the thought of a cold soda at the Malt shop. We had only been on trail for a couple of hours and we were already fantasizing about town food. By 6:00 pm we were headed down the opposite side of the mountain into town. We both enjoyed cheeseburgers, french fries, chocolate malt shakes, and a diet coke. Unlike the AT, our hiker hunger kicked in almost immediately.
After enjoying our first town meal of the trail, we took off for camp. We had planned to camp at the Lake Morena County Park area. For the first time in several years, the park was closed for pesticide treatment!
Due to the parks closure, we were forced to hike an additional quarter of a mile before setting up camp, in what seemed like someone's backyard. We set up our tents from the lights of our headlamps, brushed our teeth, and crawled into our Duplex for the second time. This routine felt normal. It felt like we had never left trail.