Pacific Crest Trail : Campo to Warner Springs

Miles this section : 110
Miles completed : 110

Striking a pose by the monument at the start of the trail.

Some excitement is provided on our arrival in Campo by one of my colleagues from the bus, he has left his phone on it... but we're right outside a store and the lady inside is able to call ahead and recover it.  Meanwhile I decide that as it is only 5pm or so I may as well walk the mile from here to the Mexican border where the trail starts, and then begin the thing a day early.  This goes without a hitch, nobody checks my permit, I take photos, including one of the solid metal barrier stretching away in both directions, and then start along the trail.  Seems to have a lot of footprints on it...  Soon enough I am back in Campo, store is still open so I buy beer, in cans that are, as with so many things in this country, huge.

Class of 2017 - or, a very small part of it at least.

First proper day, nineteen miles through what is supposed to be desert, but is actually pretty green, with plenty of water in the creeks - has been a wet winter I gather.  Easy walking, the path is well made and well trodden, a foot wide ribbon of dirt leading through hills and valleys, mainly flat but sometimes a gentle up or down - the trail is of course graded for horses.  Only real problem is the heat, I can cope though, and I manage not to panic after rounding a corner to find a large rattlesnake crossing the path in front of me.  More scared of us and all that...  The walk goes quickly enough, I'm at Lake Morena for 5pm, and there's quite a welcome, a group calling themselves the Wolverines are handing out free beer and burritos at the campsite - in previous years they ran a 'kickoff' event, but as the trail grew in popularity it became a victim of its own success.

Enjoying myself so far.

The walk continues, more green desert, including wading a couple of creeks, and more snakes, one slithers right past my foot as I eat my lunch.  I detour to Mount Laguna to buy candy, and also get fine coffee and a rather odd pancake - pretty much an omelette to be honest.  The slopes remain gentle but still I gain height, up to over five thousand feet, it's cold and there is a gale blowing, interesting when the route is along the rim of a great valley, the bottom of which seems unfeasibly far below.  Also fun is putting my tent up with wind still blowing, a real test for the €22 tent from Bordeaux this, and the alloy poles I've upgraded it with.  At one point the thing flips upside down with me hanging on to a single guy rope, but nothing snaps.

The tent coping with the wind.

There are certainly a lot of people doing this hike - the thirty or more in the 'class of 2017'' picture from Lake Morena is just part of one day's group.  I often hike alone, as is my wont, but meet the same faces, or sometimes new ones, at campsites, at breaks, and the various water sources.  The latter become important as I get into real desert, sand underfoot, dry, yellow grass, cactus the main source of green.  Some kind people have carried stacks of gallon water bottles out to a couple of points, without them this thirty mile stretch would be tricky.  As it stands I reach Warner Springs on schedule, for a successful first section.

Photos to go with this post can be found here.