For a 20-mile day in the desert, where there are no water sources, and which we’re hiking much closer to summer than recommended, today was pretty nice.
The first 10 miles were a great showcase of desert biodiversity, with all kinds of flowering cacti, bizarre seed pods, and numerous animals. We saw rabbits, ground squirrels, raptors, snakes, lizards, horny toads and more. Though the desert is not the most hospitable place for an unprepared human, many animals have carved out a niche.
These first 10 miles are also remarkably flat, but alas, that was not going to last.
The last ten miles had some downhill and uphill, culminating in a long, dusty uphill with no shade. But, after a seemingly endless series of false summits, we finally got over the last hill, and had a view to Lake Morena, about a mile distant. At which point, a sweaty, tired-looking man rounded the corner, hiking briskly southward towards us, with an intense, scared look in his eyes.
“Did you come from Lake Morena Campground?”, he asked, “how far is it?”
“I think it’s just a little bit farther north”, I said, the way he came from.
He seemed unconvinced, but turned back north. Elizabeth and I finished taking in the view, and soon proceeded north ourselves, only to run into that man again, going south again.
“It’s not this way,” he said, “I think we missed a turn.”
Our maps and apps said that the campground was just north of here, we were standing next to a placard that said the campground was just north on the trail, and we’d just come from the south and hadn’t passed it.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Isn’t that the campground down there?” Elizabeth pointed north, through a hole in the bushes, where we could now see the campground.
But he was still not convinced, so he walked past us to check further south.
We continued into the campground, and started getting settled in. A bit later, while charging my phone at the camp’s bathrooms, I ran into him. He gave me directions to the backpacker’s campsite, and headed off. I didn’t see him again for the rest of the night.
I’m hoping he has a trail name like “wrong way” or “southbound”, but I haven’t found out yet. I haven’t actually heard any trail names yet – just names like “William” and “Amber”.
Near Lake Morena Campground, about a quarter mile into town, there’s a nice little store and grill that serves a top-tier tuna melt. The store also sells very good beer, but not the restaurant, so we asked if we could buy beer at the store and have it with dinner. The owner said it would be no problem, he’d get us cups. And so we ended up having Belching Beaver Peanut Butter Stout – a very tasty beer – in wax paper soda cups that said “Coke” on the side. In the early evening in the desert, it worked fine.
Back at camp, the campground was closed for some kind of tree maintenance, so the PCT hikers were camped just past the northern border of the campground. There weren’t a lot of choices so I set up on a big flat rock by the trailside – not an ideal spot, but I’m not choosy when it comes to campsites. It sloped, but my feet were downhill, and it was hard, but my sleeping pad was soft. So i had a good night’s sleep.
belching beaver makes awesome beers! name doesn’t really help, if the shop owner didn’t recommend it, i probably never would have pulled one off the shelf haha. look for the horchata imperial stout!
I love to hear about your adventures. Seen any snakes yet?
This was fun to read. The lost guy hiked out of the pages of A Walk in the Woods. I think it took him 2 years to hike the AT.
Your description of the “wrong way guy” definitely made me laugh. I can just picture him and he sounds like a perfect character for a novel or film. Anyway, seems like your trip is off to a great start and I’m loving the blog. Can’t wait for the next post!