All of us were up at 4:00 am to pack up, have one last cup of coffee and hit the road to Campo with Bob Reiss in his van.  As he deftly drove along the twists and turns of Hwy. 94,  Bob commented that some people have a bumper sticker that reads, “Pray for me–I drive Highway 94”.    It’s not just the winding, narrow road that is a problem–it’s also the illegal immigrants who are using the highway as a trail.  “I’ve seen them make like paint on a wall, when there’s no shoulder to the road, ”  he said. 

By first light, we were at the PCT Border Monument.   We took turns writing in the register, took lots of pictures, stuck a foot under the fence to touch Mexico, and we were off! 

The early part of the trail was an easy downhill with lots of cottontail bunny rabbits and chaparral in bloom.  We walked through the quiet outskirts of Campo,  past rows and rows of Border Patrol cars.   After a few twists and turns and ups and downs of trail, we reached the railroad tracks!  I love railroads, and was really hoping that a train might come along, but no such luck.  A bit more walking among the dramatic rock formations and wildflower displays, and it was time to stop for a granola breakfast with a GREAT view!  Josh and Anna passed us at that point, and we didn’t see them again till Lake Morena.

All morning we were hiking through what I thought looked like a Chinese garden–beautifully shaped rocks, with wildflowers everywhere.  I saw every kind of late spring wildflower, in every conceivable color.  The day gradually grew hotter.  From the 36 degree start at Campo, our little thermometer climbed to 83 degrees in the shade–cool for this part of the world, but pretty sweaty for us with our backpacks, covering miles of switchbacks. 

By lunchtime we were at treeshaded Hauser Creek for a good foot soak and splashing cool water all over our heads and shoulders.  Ahh!  Next came the notorious 1,000 foot climb up Morena Butte.  Out came our umbrellas to shade us from the hot afternoon sun.  But there were many more wildflowers among the rocks and lots of butterflies!  Finally we were headed down for Lake Morena, only stopping to watch the antics of 2  “horney toads”.  Very cute!  First item of business when we got to town was cold lemonade and ice cream!  Then we showered,  wrote all this “journal stuff”, ate dinner and put in a few more miles before making camp on a nice flat sandy place up on a hill off the trail.  A lot of mosquitoes showed up after we turned in, but some DEET is fixing them!