PCT Day 2 – Lake Morena

As you have heard me say before, the first night of sleep in any new bed is never good. Last night was no exception. I won’t burden you with the details, but let’s just say that ibuprofen was eventually involved.

Snorlax Agonistes

I did for the first time in my life actually hear myself snore. Sure, I have woke myself up with my own snoring. But last night I endured it from within a dream. It was marvelously raucous, like a jackhammer. I felt bad for those around me though, so I woke myself up. To my wife I offer my deepest apologies. You were right. It really IS that bad!

Crowd Surfing

I awoke to find our campsite filled with people. It looked like the base camp at the foot of Mount Everest (wait, didn’t they rename that mountain?). Any way, this is what it looked like right outside my tent in the morning.

I tiptoe through camp toward a quiet place up the trail to relieve myself. I see a lot of new faces. My German friends are up and almost ready to head out. The rest are still sleeping. There are two men on the ground with no tent. Their sleeping bags are pulled over their heads. You can barely see the slit where their nose and mouth peak through.

By 6:30 everyone is up, including Keith. I am ready to leave, but he is not. He reminds me that we agreed to leave at 7:00. I remember. I take the time to chat with some people I don’t know. It’s all good.

Lake Morena

Our destination is Lake Morena, a reservoir that serves San Diego. There is a campground there and a convenience store that serves ice cream! Since no ice cream sources may remain unexplored, we put that destination at the front our minds and head out.

We are going to follow a contour line on the ridge south of Hauser Creek. Eventually we will go down to the creek, cross it and hike up over the ridge on the north side of the creek. From there we will hike down to Lake Morena Campground and the village nearby. We may spend the night in the campground or on the trail a few miles beyond.

The early trail is bright in the morning sun. We head west along the ridge above Hauser Creek.

If we were to ever have a national flower, we would have to consider the Indian Paintbrush. It is along every section of the PCT below certain elevations. The local colors range from pink to red to orange to purple. Here is a nice display.

We reach the place where we will descend into Hauser Creek valley. We will eventually go up to that notch on the opposite ridge.

We cross paths with Jannes and Mica several times. On the trail up to the notch, they are ahead of us.

We pass them because they are in no hurry. At the top of the ridge we see the Lake. We can taste the ice cream already.

King of the Hamburgers and Pizza

The town near Lake Morena is vintage rural California. It’s a cross between old Florida and Arizona with a dusty sun-drenched weariness on the verge of collapse. The sign above the store makes several promising claims.

Keith gets a burger, fries and a large chocolate shake. I want to eat some the food in my pack, so I just get some ice cream. I have an uneasy feeling about this place, so we decide not to stay in the campground. But the food and the rest in the shade are welcome, and we pack up feeling refreshed. As we are leaving, a bunch of hikers arrive. We give them our table and head out.

On the way out of town Keith finds a secret passage to Canada. We decide to take it.

Burnt Oasis

On the map we see several spots where we might camp tonight. They are all about two miles away. On our way there we pass some rock animals at play along the trail.

We find a nice camping spot. It’s empty. Since we are both hot and tired, we decide to stop. I am also really thirsty. I realize that I did not bring enough water into camp. The closest water is over a mile away. Ugh. Gonna have to tough it out. At dinner I make things worse when I spill my milk all over Keith. Oh well, no use crying. 😋

Some other hikers join us in camp. It is Yo and Yamir. They are from Japan. I tell them I have a son in Osaka. Yo seems pleased. These two intend to hike the trail all the way to Canada. I wish them well. Here is the beautiful couple.

The temperature is dropping to near freezing tonight. That should be fine as long as we don’t have too much condensation. I hear Keith playing a Star Trek episode in his tent. Star Trek is his teddy bear.

• May 6
• Starting marker: 11.2
• Ending marker: 23.0
• Miles hiked today: 11.8
• Total rocky PCT miles: 23
• Total rocky road ice cream scoops: 2