Kick off in the rain

We have been to Lake Morenan Campground for the PCT Kickoff for two days. The Kickoff is organized by a lot of former PCT-hikers, who give information about the PCT and provide a meeting place for all the new hikers. After two days (do not miss the Kickoff if you want to hike the PCT), we started to walk from Lake Moreno to Mount Laguna. At that point it really felt like we were beginning of the PCT since there was no Kickoff ahead of us anymore. All that was ahead were about 2600 miles to Canada, but that were too many miles to think about. So we aimed for the next campground and walked through desert landscape in light rain and fog. It did not really feel like the desert. Not just because it was raining, also because there were a lot of beautiful plants with colorful flowers. It felt more like walking in a botanical garden.

At Mount Laguna we were all soaking wet and it was chilly. Two hikers decided to sleep on the floor of the restroom of the campground because there tents were wet and the restrooms were slightly warmer. The next day we walked 4 more miles to Laguna Campground. The owner of an outfitting store gave us the advise not to walk any further than that because wind as strong as 80 miles/ hour was expected at the ridgeline of the mountain. As we were walking it was really foggy, raining and the wind was blowing strong. But it still felt good to be on the trail. At Laguna Campground we tried to set our tents up. Since the weather became worse and the wind was so strong that our tent stakes did not hold to the ground I had to find stones and put them on the stakes. I was wet and cold when the tent finally was set up. I cannot remember the last time a hot shower felt so good. I fell asleep hoping that the tent stakes would hold...

F.

Suus

Dry, burned out vegetation didn't matched the wetter so well.