First week on the PCT: Lots of „firsts“, including an earthquake

I can’t believe we started the PCT about a week ago! Time went by so fast, even though our days mostly consisted of „hike, eat, sleep, repeat“. So how was our first week on the PCT?

Start

Our first day started with some delicious chocolate chip pancakes and hot chocolate at the PCT campground at CLEEF, not far from the Southern Terminus. The PCTA crest runners Abbie and Eric gave us a short summary of some LNT (leave no trace) principles, checked our permits, and handed us our PCT „hang tags“ (a tag with the PCT logo that we can hang on our backpacks). Then it was time to pack up all our stuff and go to the Southern Terminus for our start date photos and to sign the train register. That’s where our journey officially began!

Slow but steady

Our first few days were warm and sunny, no clouds in sight. When hiking, „warm“ quickly became „hot“ under the scorching sun. So we took lots of breaks in the shade, made sure to stay hydrated (also drinking electrolytes), and generally took it slow. Our daily mileage was somewhere between 9 and 14 miles, allowing our bodies to get accustomed to this new „lifestyle“. Some people around us already pushed further, doing more miles, so it could’ve been easy to get caught in what sometimes almost felt like a „race“. But our (especially my) priority was to listen to our bodies and make sure we don’t have any overuse injuries right away. I walked so slowly during this first week I literally stopped to smell the flowers.

The Desert

Walking through the desert isn’t what I imagined it to be like. The landscape changes often, and we’re going up and down all the time. Even though I‘ve seen elevation profiles of this section before, the images in my head were totally different from what we’ve experienced in reality. So far there has been one short stretch (the one approaching Scissors Crossing) that looked like the images I‘d had in my head previously.

I also thought that there would be spots to pitch our tent everywhere, but in fact it’s not that easy finding one of those. Most times we had to rely on this navigational app called „FarOut“, that indicates useful waypoints such as water sources and tentsites.

Lots of „firsts“

Most things are very exciting when you’re doing it for the first time. And we experienced lots of those „first times“ on this first stretch.

First time filtering water

For water, we rely on natural sources (springs, streams), water tanks, or water caches (usually maintained by people helping hikers). Water from most of these sources has to be filtered, which we do using a CNOC water container to collect the water and a Sawyer Squeeze to filter it.

First time resupply

Resupplying is when we go off trail to buy food and other things we might need (like gas canisters or wet wipes) for our next stretch on trail. During this first week we‘ve resupplied in two little towns that the trail basically passes through: Lake Morena and Mount Laguna.

Digging the first cathole

When nature calls for number two, you need to dig a hole at least 70 paces away from trail or from a water source. I definitely do this, but it probably is my least favourite part of this experience so far. I really appreciate toilets!

First time seeing rattlesnakes in the wilderness

Now that was interesting! My first rattlesnake encounter on day 2 was different than what I expected. I got very close to a bush (something you have to do often on this narrow trail) and something in the bush started making a loud „sshhhh“ noise. It didn’t sound like rattling, but more like a strong stream of water. It startled me, making me step aside (as much as I could on the narrow trail), looking for the source of that sound. I barely caught a glance at quite a large snake slithering away under the bushes. So far, we‘ve seen a total of four rattlesnakes on trail.

First trail magic

„Trail magic“ is defined as „unexpected acts of kindness and generosity offered to hikers“. We experienced trail magic in the form of drinks and snacks (including watermelon!) offered to us by the organisers of a 50K race along the PCT and pizza and beer offered to us by a couple at Scissors Crossing. We were beyond grateful for these acts of kindness by these amazing people!

First zero

A „zero“ is a day where you don’t hike. Our first zero took place in the lovely town of Julian. We ate some delicious free pie at „Moms Pie House“ and picked up a resupply package that someone generously offered to send us (also a form of trail magic! and this is another way to resupply: to have someone send you or to send yourself boxes with food/items they/you bought to a post office or another place that holds packages). On our way back to the hotel the earth started shaking! My first thought was that a big truck would be passing us on the street, but since that wasn’t the case I quickly realised that this was indeed an earthquake! My first earthquake! Since we were on the street and no high buildings were around us, I didn’t feel unsafe, it was just a strange feeling. Luckily, nothing serious happened. And as we soon found out, the epicentre was right next to Julian. What an experience! 

With this rest day that turned out to be more exciting than anticipated, we‘re looking forward to our next stretch on the PCT. Stay tuned!