Pacific Crest Trail : Getting to the Start

The only photo I took in LA.

The PCT may be over two thousand miles long, but as with Te Araroa a year or two back, it's a much longer journey just to get to the start, beginning with a transatlantic flight that takes me to Los Angeles smoothly enough.  Then a two mile walk or so to the metro station, maybe there was a shuttle bus but I saw no signs... not a long walk, but it's annoying the way that even at minor interchanges I have to press a button then wait some time for a go light - don't want a citation for jaywalking on my first day here...  Next, an hour on the LA metro - interesting experience, it's as if you took the London Underground and removed all the commuters and tourists, don't think I'd want to be here late at night.  My one night in the city is at a hostel (nice enough if shockingly expensive) in the Koreatown neighbourhood, which I must say is rather nice.  Seems to be built with humans in mind as well as cars, there are people walking dogs, going to restaurants (many of which - restaurants and people - are Korean).  I even find a sports bar for a beer or two, all good.

San Diego.

Next day, a bus ride away from Koreatown, as with the metro the bus seems only to cater for poor people, though not the poorest - after travelling through the soaring towers of the financial district we enter downtown, where many of the sidewalks are covered with the tents of the homeless.  Strange country this.  Just a little further and I'm at the Greyhound bus station, an hour or so early but I while the time away with an enormous coffee - seriously, something like a pint and a half.

Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá.

The Greyhound takes me to San Diego, where my public transit odyssey continues with a trolleybus, up into the hills where I have a motel booked, rather a nice one as it turns out.  Pretty area too, which is good as I have to spend a day walking around it, mainly buying much food and carting it to the local post office to post off.  The 'push a button and wait before crossing' thing is getting very old.  One potentially big problem arises, my GPS won't boot up, think maybe it can't cope with the many route files I put on it?  I visit many phone repair stores hoping they'll have the right cable to connect to it and delete some files but no joy, finally walk a long way to an electronics superstore where they can, except it doesn't work, aargh.  OK, I do what I should have done before, figure out how to reset the device, which fixes it, yay.  And there's still time to head out for the evening, drink my last few beers for a little while, and eat an enormous pizza.  What with this, the giant burger last night, and the massive waffles at breakfast I am getting fat...

The bus to Campo.

Last day before I'm due to start walking, and one last panic as I find the water bottles I've bought don't fit my filter, the screwtops are too small.  Well, I need to do some last minute shopping anyway, and thankfully there are suitable bottles available.  More shopping, for gas and bug spray, then one more trolley to the El Cajon transit centre.  The 894 bus from here should, with any luck, be the last powered vehicle I get into for a while... Well, after ninety minutes or so the Spanish speaking locals get out, and me and a couple of other hikers have twelve more miles to Campo where the trail starts.  But that will have to wait for the next post...

Photos to go with this post can be found here.