Tim and Matthew joined us for a wonderful last night in the Bay. Matthew made us Mexican feast with mango salsa (and steak for Justin) because he knows we'll be craving it in a few weeks. We gave them both a ton of bags to bring to our wedding in July, our wedding dress/suit, and a million resupply boxes. Thanks, brothers! Matthew the drove us to the train the next morning and waved us off.
We decided to take the train down to San Diego because we wanted to savor a slower pace from the start. Yesterday, we did the first leg from SF to LA. I highly recommend it! While roughly twice as long as driving, we had beautiful views of the Central Valley and then somewhere around Santa Barbara, we hit the coast! We were on cliffs right above the ocean, watching whales breach in front of the setting sun. Probably the best wildlife we'll see on the whole journey, knowing my wildlife luck.
We spent last night in LA at a Starwood hotel, in official commemoration of our last night as consultants (for now - we'll be back in October). Today we did a bunch of final wedding errands while we still had access to a computer and then went out to lunch at a hipster Vietnamese spot, because Asian food will be sparse for the next few months.
The clothes we are wearing are a mix of clothes we're wearing on the trail and clothes we are going to ditch before tomorrow morning. I felt so dorky going to this super hip lunch spot in LA wearing bright orange crocs and a hand-me-down tshirt from Matthew that says "Significant Otter." Hiker trash, through and through.
Friends of a friend of a friend are meeting us at the San Diego train station. They're famous "Southern Terminus" trail angels and in peak hiker season (aka now), they pick up groups of hikers every night and shuttle them to the southern border every morning at 6 am. There's an amazing network of volunteers who make this experience happen and we're grateful for all of it.
We started the PCT at mile 450 last year, when a number of hikers had already dropped out and the remainder had gotten a bit dispersed. Starting from the Mexican border tomorrow morning will be a different experience. The PCTA issues 50 permits per day to start at the Southern Terminus, so we'll be hiking with dozens of others tomorrow. I'm sure even within the first week we'll start to spread out, but the next few days will be social ones. New friends!!
We're only taking on 41 miles in this first resupply (by the time we're in good shape, we'll be able to do 150 miles in a single stretch). So hopefully we can take it easy, enjoy the significance of this moment, and not hurt ourselves. Should be in Mt Laguna by Monday!!
For whatever reason it's 2016 and there's seemingly still not a reasonable way to post to blogger from my phone. Get it together, Google. So until I figure this out, my pictures will continue to not be embedded into the post.
1. Matthew send off at the Amtrak in Emeryville
2 and 3. Awesome views from the train
4. Someone looks awesome while enjoying hipster LA.
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