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May 25, 2015
Day: 1 Daily Miles: 50.25 Total Miles: 50.25 Hours Hiking: 15.2
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| The first mile is always the scariest! |
May 25th 2015, Day 1. I made it 50.25 miles, to point 0550383E 3642568N UTM. Just after the GATR water source. And um, WOW, what a first day, 50 miles was pretty big. It started out at a hotel, got up at 4:45 am, ate some breakfast and got going on the road. Arrived at the monument at about 5:35 am or so. Took care of some last minute things, getting things ready, took some photos and got set and hit the trail at 5:50 am, and that's my official start time.
The morning went fairly well, I was really really bookin' it, and then at about mile 10, I got the crap scared out of me, there was a rattlesnake up on this boulder, about 2 feet away from the trail at about chest height.... ya know I was just walking along and {rattling noises} and look over and (laughs) and I'm pretty much staring it down at eye level...it’s pretty unnerving, but a little ways after that I got into some fog which was great. It started out really sunny, for about 10 miles or so, then thankfully I was in the fog for the Hauser canyon descent and climb, so that made things a lot nicer than had it been sunny.
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| Indian Paintbrush flowers near Lake Morena. |
But I made it to lake Morena in about 5 hours, so I did 20 miles in 5 hours, and then skirted on over to Boulder Oaks Campground, where I stopped and had lunch underneath the Interstate 8 overpass. I got some nice cold water at Boulder Oaks and taped up my toes a little bit better. I had one blister on my little toe, but that is to be expected, because they are curled underneath my other toes, so they always get pounded on. Then, after making really great time to there, it was a brutal climb up Mt. Laguna. The sun was out pretty good, I mean it's only about 75 deg for the high, but when you are sitting there with no shade, just getting this nice sun beating on you, plus, there was a tailwind going about 3mph, so as I hiked forward, it was coming with me and so it was like I had no breeze at all.
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| Looking north from the Laguna Mountains. |
It was really hot and I had to stop multiple times and turn around to let the breeze cool me off. Yeah... I didn't feel so great climbing up. I was tired, I took a few breaks, about 5 minutes each. But I made it. I got up to the top around, ohh I think about 6:00 pm or so and was happy, but still hurting a little. My goal was 50...basically my goal now is to just do at least 1 mile more than my 2012 mileage for the same day. So in 2012, I did 49 miles, so this time I did 50. Yeah I got to bed, more or less on time and had a fun experience of trying to eat an Idahoan while hiking. That will take a bit more practice. I was fairly slow, it took about 2 miles to eat the thing. But other than that, it was pretty good.
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| The average terrain on top of the Laguna Mountains. |
I got to bed a little later than I'd like, but still about 9:40 is when I closed my eyes and tied to sleep. I did sleep actually. I tossed and turned a bit, but to be expected as I'm not quite used to being on the pad yet, my body isn't completely tired out yet, so yeah. Other than that, it was an OK day. I was happy with my progress and just got to keep going and doing the same thing!
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| Sunrise panorama from the ridge line of the Laguna Mountains |
