Brunch malts – The Trek

Last night was a little rough. Between getting used to sleeping on the floor, mice running around the store, and my neighbor hanging around, sleep was minimal. Fortunately, my morning coffee woke me up enough to tackle the morning climb.

The desert landscape is very serene in the morning. Some parts of the trail were this dusty red color and there is quartz and granite as far as the eye can see. It’s so pretty.

The group I camped with last night arrived at Lake Morena Malt Shop to grab malts for brunch around 10am. In exchange for buying real coffee, I bought a coffee-flavored malt. The malt was delicious, but not something I wanted to drink at 10am. I gave the rest to another hiker, ate a granola bar, and kept him moving to fill up on water at the nearby campsite to continue the next leg.

Getting back on the trail was a little confusing. I turned back the way I came and realized that that wasn’t actually where the trail continued. So I walked back through the campground and found a trail marker only to come across a 4 way split and no more markers in sight. I chose a mile and a quarter mile and realized I had chosen incorrectly. Then I looked at the other one and I didn’t think that was right either. So I finally went with my last option, which was actually the PCT.

The next section of the trail was a long, gradual, exposed climb. I could feel my knees burning with the sunscreen and did my best to try to cover my hands. I arrived at the next campsite where I met up with some members of the Day 1 team and a whole new group of people.

One of the boys was struggling with knee pain. I think he was going to try to get a ride into town to get some medicine. Another guy, Chops (who walks the trail in jeans and chuck taylors) hurt his hip and was headed into town. It’s reminders like these of how important it is to listen to your body here.

Fortunately I felt strong. So I planned to walk another 3 or 4 miles to Kitchen Creek. I ran into Straight Up from Austin and we had a nice long chat until we got to the creek. The creek looked crowded and rocky, which would make it difficult to pitch our tents, so he and I decided to walk 3 more miles to a campsite set up at Cibbets Flat, just off mile marker 32.5. Here we meet a hiker from Chicago and Hummingbird from Colorado. We had a nice chat over dinner and watched the stunning pink sunset while we stretched.

Today was unexpectedly longer than expected. With the course changes and side hikes, my 15 mile day turned into almost 20, so tomorrow I can take it easy with a 10 mile Nero day (almost zero) and rest at Mt. Laguna.

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