The rain stopped during the night, and we were up at 4:30am (30 degree temperature) to pack up and walk by headlamp in the darkness.  Turned out we didn’t need the headlamps as we walked through Campo–every building we passed had motion detectors, and lights came on constantly!  But once we were out of town into the sagebrush, it was pretty dark!   We reached the PCT monument as the eastern sky began to lighten. We were disappointed to find there was no longer a way to “touch Mexico” with your foot. A new net and barbed wire fence keeps you well back from the border. As we were standing there looking at this new development, TWO border patrol vehicles came zooming up–one on the “inner corridor” between the fences, and the other from Campo.  They aimed their searchlights at us!  Guess they thought we were illegals?  (Not sure why illegals would be walking TO Mexico??)

Once they saw we were PCT hikers, they just waved and smiled, and I boldly asked the guy who’d come from Campo if he could take our picture.  “Sure!” he said.  “Stand by the monument!”  He carefully aimed his searchlight to “light us up” and took a couple of great pictures. Awesome!   I signed the register, “What is this?  Christmas in April?  There’s FROST all over the monument, the plants and the ground!  I thought we were ‘sposed to see that in Canada!   Oh well, here we go!”

Then we took off on what I like to call “the rock garden hike” to Lake Morena. The trail glittered with mica and fools gold, the wildflowers peeked out from every nook and cranny, and the morning air was cool and breezy. Bunny rabbits were hopping around in the bushes.

We “leapfrogged” several times with another couple, “No Trace” and “Unbreakable”. After last night’s rain, the trail was often muddy (gee, just like the trails we’ve been practicing on back home!)  And oh my–we could see SNOW on the Laguna Mountains up ahead! During the morning, we met one couple who were having a “garage sale” (and it was only the 2nd day of their hike!) because they started hiking yesterday afternoon and got caught in the pouring rain.  Wow, I am glad we were able to camp under that truck trailer last night! 

The trail gorillas have done a great job on the PCT between Campo and Lake Morena–everything was in great shape!  We planned on eating lunch at Hauser Creek, which used to be a favorite PCT hiker gathering place, with soft green grass under lots of shady trees by the creek.  But oh, bummer!  The trees were all dead or dying, and what used to look like a park was full of dead branches.  Nobody was there.  We ate lunch there anyway, but it was sad. 

 We reached ADZPCTKO around 2:30, signed in, and set up camp.  It was a sunny afternoon, but very cold and windy. Setup didn’t take us long, so we were soon socializing, checking out gear, and talking to vendors. More and more hikers kept coming in— this is the biggest ADZ ever!   I had volunteered to help WS Monty in the “kitchen” and ended up being the “beer runner” and pot washer.  The beer runner job was interesting–we had an assembly line of hikers who were making big fat burritos for the dinner, and I kept them well supplied with whatever kind of beer they wanted.  It took 1 1/2 hours to make 750 big burritos! 

At dinner,we met some people from Windsor (a town north of where we live)— the wife is doing the PCT and her husband is providing support. They know all the same trails we do!  We also met “Jack Sparrow”, and lots of other “characters.”  The other thruhikers in our campsite are all very young, and are spending their time at ADZPCTKO drinking lots of beer and hanging out.   We left them to it, and headed off to an interesting seminar on making “one liners” from grocery store items instead of paying the big bucks for freezedried dinners.   

The Friday evening program was short films made by PCT hikers.  The topics were quite varied–everything from trail gorillas to trail angels.  It was a very cold and windy evening–all of us were bundled up to stay warm, but we greeted every film with cheers and enthusiasm.   Back at our campsite, our site-mates built a campfire and stayed up talking till I’m-not-sure-when.  Bill and I just conked.  It has been a fun day!

Walk to Rivendell: On Stock Road in the Shire