Campo to Mount Laguna

Made it the first 42 miles! Scout and Frodo continued their amazingly tight ship on Saturday morning. They told us we were going to leave at six, and sure enough when I checked my watch in the car, it said 6:00 exactly. A volunteer named Jesse drove our car (we were a caravan of three cars filled with April 23rd starts!). Scout pulled us aside at the border for some marital advice: be kind to each other, he said - and then hugged us both.







A lot of our starting crew.






Scout and one of the volunteers who drives people to the border.






At the Southern Terminus! Looking fresh and clean.






Scout made us take this photo. Everyone then clapped. Justin loved it.






Makin' huge progress. 2649 to go.

While about 15-20 people were milling around the border (literally, you start the hike next to some barbed wire, a dirt road for border patrol jeeps, and then the wall that separates us from Mexico), people had different levels of appetite for taking pictures near the Southern Terminus monument. When we were picture-sated, so was a small group: two Australian guys, two east coasters who have already hiked the Appalachian Trail, a guy from Oklahoma, and a 19-year old from Canada. We stayed with these guys more or less for the next two days. Lotta dudes... Fortunately I have three brothers and am used to their shenanigans.













Thanks for the snacks, Andrea!






Inaugural wrap of the hike!! Smoked cheddar, tapatio, and raspberry jam. Only downhill from here.






Awesome wildflowers in the desert right now!

We didn't want to overextend ourselves on Day 1. Unfortunately, there are no sources of water in the first twenty miles of trail, so you have to either carry a ton of water, or have your first day be a 20-miler. We ended up doing (oof) ... both. We brought mucho water in case we decided to camp at mile 15. However, when we got there, we were in such good spirits that we decided to go the last five miles. We gave our extra water to the Korean film crew who is here doing a documentary on the trail, lugging a ton of equipment, and generally seeming underprepared. 20 miles in the books! The next day was an uneventful but beautiful 17, and then on Monday we walked five miles into the town of Mount Laguna, where we picked up our first resupply box. The trail has been good to us so far - sandy, gentle, and sunny. Justin will be sharing our post Mt Laguna reflections in the next post. But here's a little preview: WIND.






Justin got a reflective umbrella for desert.






He's still figuring out how to make it work for him.

We're doing a lot of thinking about how this experience is different from 2014. I mean there are obvious things: we're getting married! We're doing the whole hike! We already know that Kennedy Meadows is the single greatest spot on the planet! But the biggest difference by far is mindset. We have confidence we can do this and have some experiences to back that confidence up. This has made the last few days a lot more fun and less stressful. Good old mindset....changes everything.

Awesome wildflowers.






And finally, some scary signs.












Don't worry Mom. If we see an unexploded military ordinance, we won't touch it.