Campo to Lake Morena

20 miles – 4/3/18 – 4/4/18

I must have used my Seattle super powers to summon clouds to Campo as I set out to start my hike, it wasn’t the intense sun I was expecting, it was nice and cool and carrying 42 lbs on my back seamed pretty easy. About an hour or so in the clouds were defeated by the sun and it suddenly felt very hot even though it was only in the upper 70s. I was so glad I decided to bring an umbrella for the sun, it was like my own personal cloud.

The trail started out nice flat before hitting a stream about 4 miles in where I refilled a liter of water to bring me back up to the 6 (12 lbs) I started out with. This stream would be the only source of water until mile 20. A little further on the trail started to climb up a hill with only a few shaded areas. As I continued up I was able to look down into a lush green valley with a lake and some nice trees providing plenty of shade. It seemed so close but was not close at all. I took a drink if my nice warm water before heading on.

I took a few short breaks to eat, stretch and air my feet out. At one point I was yelled at by an angry rattle snake hiding under a rock. Eventually it started fell really hot even with my umbrella. I was sweating buckets but it did make my shirt feeling nice and cool. I decided to stop around mile 11 set up camp with Sisse and smurf (a trail name I gave her because her blue shirt and hair and white hat) even though it was only 2pm.

The sun made my tent feel like an oven so I resorted to sitting in a small patch of shade for a while, occasionally getting up to stretch my legs. All in all I felt pretty good but slightly dehydrated, I guess I was being overly conservative with my water. Eventually I decided to eat dinner, which was some cold soaked Alfredo pasta that I started at the stream back at miles 4. I figured the heat would make it nice and warm, which it did, but I put in too much water. That combination of excess water, heat and time caused the noodles to dissolve into paste. With the excess water I felt like I was eating paste soup. I did eat it all though. Hopefully I figure out this whole cold soaking thing soon, I kind of have to.

When I crawled into my tent I discovered that the slick material my tent is made out of allows my sleeping pad to slide all over the place, any time I’d move it would move underneath me. This became pretty annoying but I did manage to get a good amount of sleep. However, in the morning I discovered a good amount of condensation inside my tent. I though having one side open would prevent that, it did not. Not only was the condensation on the inside of my tent but also on my sleeping bag. I wiped up what I could and packed up before heading out. I would later find out that the condensation was an issue for everyone.

I continued on down to Hauser Creek, which was dry, before pushing up the side of a sun exposed hill with a noticeable amount of elevation gain. At the top someone had left a few jugs of water for thirsty hikers, luckily I had more than enough water to make it to Lake Morena. I felt challenged to drink all it because I had carried it for 20 miles.

Once I arrived at the Lake Morena I was so happy to find an abundance of water taps and showers. After setting up my tent I walked into town with Sisse and grabbed lunch, a double bacon cheeseburger and a strawberry banana milkshake. So good. After returning to camp I took an amazing shower and helped sissie eat the rest of her large pizza she had gotten for lunch as dinner. Then, as I was writing this, a hiker walked up and asked “Do you like pizza?” offering me a slice of his large pizza. I couldn’t pass it up.

Today I’m going to kick it up a notch and ramp up to 15 mile days with a stop in Julian before continuing on to my next official stop at Warner springs. Luckily I’ll only have to carry 2 liters of water this time.