Day 2 – 24 Mar 19. Big hills and Junk Food

18 km (11.2 mi), Total Distance 37 km (23 mi). 7 hours 5 minutes (1020-1725)

I had an interrupted sleep as usual for the first night in my tent. I had my sleeping bag open and laying over top of me and I was warm except for when I was turning over when a cold draft came in while positioning.
I woke up just before 7 when the first hikers went past talking loudly. I looked at my little key ring thermometer and it was reading 4 degrees so I decided to go back to sleep.

I woke up again an hour later and it had warmed slightly but was still cold. I looked up and thought I had condensation. When I went to wipe it off I realised it was ice so the temperature had dropped below freezing during the night. I was glad I decided to have my water filter in my sleeping bag as they are damaged when they get frozen.

I was in no rush so I edited the videos from Day 1 before having breakfast, packing and taking my tent down. There was a steady stream of people passing all morning and as I was taking my tent down Andrew came past.

I was finally ready to go at 1020. I still had 2 litres of water and this lasted me to Lake Morena.

The trail continued down hill, first a little steeper and then at a barely noticeable angle. It was nice walking along the side of the hill looking across the valley at the larger hills.

The terrain was a mixture of smooth and rocky. Not long after the campsite was a nice little stream and an Asian man was filling his water. He did not seem interested in talking so I continued on.

About 30 minutes later I came up behind the guy from Mile 3. I later found out his name is Curtis. He must have just started walking from a break as he was walking faster than I had been. Unfortunately my competitive nature emerged and I kept a steady distance behind him for 15 minutes before realising I was being silly. To stop this I stopped for a rest break to let him get well ahead so I would walk a more reasonable pace and not try and catch up.

There was some neat trees that did not seem too have any bark and they were a beautiful rich reddish brown colour.

Beautiful Madrona Tree

There were a few flowers but very infrequent. There were some eagles flying around in the thermals generated by the valley which were nice to watch.

My body was feeling good and I was enjoying myself.

The trail reached a vehicle dirt road and I turned right following this for just over a km before the turnoff back onto the trail. At the turnoff I was staring at a yellow sign which had a picture of a snake, cactus, person swimming and some other symbols. There was something spray painted on it and I realised it was PCT and an arrow so looked left and saw the trail marker. I had nearly missed this through staring at the other sign which I assume is for illegal immigrants.

Now it was a steady drop to the bottom of the valley at Houser Creek. This was a lovely spot, really green with lots of trees. Definitely a nice place to camp. Later I found out 8 people had camped the previous night.

Andrew, Curtis and a new lady were at the creek. I noticed that Andre had a Nikon camera and showed him the part I had picked up at mile 2.2 and it was his.

I left just behind Curtis and he was going a good pace but stopped to get something to eat as I continued on. The gradient was nice because of all the switchbacks. It was gentle enough to keep up a good momentum but steep enough to actually get progress up the hill.

The hill I was climbing seen from the other side.

I was feeling strong so I powered up to the top in 30 minutes, stopping to take photos only 3 times.

At the top of the steep bit there was still a little bit of gentle climbing, slight downhill to a small creek and then more climbing. As I came around the side of the hill the view of Lake Morena appeared but it looked dry.

Dry Lake Morena

I could also see the town of Morena. I stopped for a quick break in the shade on a perfect height rock.

I was a little stiff after the break but warmed up quickly. There was a small drop, small climb and then a steady drop to the town. As I came around the other side of the hill I saw the real Lake Morena, which actually had water in it an was pretty.

Lake Morena did have water in it

I passed some day hikers and caught up to the French couple as they looked at a sign. There were two route options and the sign said to take the left for PCT. I was thinking left was the track opposite the sign but thankfully the day hikers pointed out that it was based on you facing the sign, so I continued straight and shortly afterwards came out at Lake Morena.

I headed off trail up the track to the Oak Malt Store where I ordered a cheese burger. I sat outside talking to some day hikers as I ate my burger. When they left more day hikers arrived and as they left Andrew and Curtis arrived.

Andrew

Curtis (Magic Touch)

I tried to fix my Guthook app by reloading it but this didn’t work. Cutis said to let him try and he managed to reinstate the app and purchase information, I just needed to download the maps again. This is why I suggested the trail name ‘Magic Touch’.

2 hours after arriving I left. I stopped at the campground to filter some water bringing me back up to 2 litres.

The trail was now flat for a long time and the trail was a little sandy. There were heaps of rabbits in this area.

Here I met three day hikers, 2 who had done PCT last year and introduced themselves by their trail names. They were really friendly and gave some good information about a water source ahead and some camp spots on the ridge where I was heading.

I dropped to the green area around the stream and climbed up to the ridge. Now I followed the ridge the final 1.5 km to the campsite.

My knees were a little achy but I still had good energy and my feet felt good.

At the campsite I dried out my tent footprint while I looked for my tent spot, knowing the others had double tents I set up in a smaller spot where I would get the morning sun.

Just after I was set up Curtis arrived. He headed into the bush to find a spot but later repositioned back with us. Anther new guy arrived and then Andrew. Later a girl joined the new guy. There was a beautiful sunset and the view of the lake was beautiful. It was much warmer with the temperature at 15 degrees at 1900.
As it got dark everyone disappeared into their tents for the night.

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