April 22 2010
Location: Julian,CA
Greetings to all from the trail. Thus far, it has been quite the experience. On day one, we encountered our first rattle snake. Though it was just a baby, it was still quite exciting. By days two and three, Fire Marshal (Chad Zandy), learned about the arid desert heat, he had a touch of heat exhaustion, but after a few hours in the shade, a lot of water and some GU energy, he came out unscathed and the team was able to continue to make good mileage.
The scenery has been utterly breathtaking and for the most part, we have to give credit to the trail designers because it is very well planned and thought out, which has made for enjoyable hiking despite the elevation changes. Fire Marshal and Girl Friday, never having been out west before, can't stop marveling at the beauty of the high desert. We are pleased to report, that our gear is working great. We have had no failures or malfunctions thus far, and couldn't be happier. The team to this point is pretty much injury free and much to everybody's surprise Zero/Zero has not fallen yet, although Girl Friday has. Zero' s close encounter with one fall had Friday bracing for impact as she wore him like a cheap suit on her back.
The greatest thing we are finding about the PCT is that it is always changing. The water is plentiful this year, and we have seen some ups and downs as far as climate. Yesterday between Mt. Lauguna and the Rodriguez Canyon mother nature threw everything she had at us. In the morning we were buffeted by 50 to 60 mile per hour winds which made for challenging hiking. While switch backing through the canyons with a 1000 ft drop off, Friday learned that her Osprey pack can double as a kite. On more than one occasion she found herself tossed around like a rag doll, Zero and Fire Marshal didn't fare much better. All in all it made for a rewarding day of hiking. When we got to camp that night things got really interesting, the wind got worse, and then came the rain, then came the snow. Yes I did say snow. We never expected snow in the desert. The Marmot tents held up well, and we couldn't be more grateful to have had our Eddie Bauer foul weather gear, it kept us warm safe and dry. We must say that it couldn't have been a more perfect end to Fridays first 20 plus mile day. Thanks to all the folks at Ahnu and Superfeet, we havn't been getting to camp with the aches and pains that we had on past trails.
More to come soon,
Trek Far
Team Farsight
