Day 1
Miles 20.6
We may have started our thru hike on April fools day, but this is no joke. We did the ceremonial picture taking at the monument and hugged my parents good bye. We were so excited to actually be on the trail I think we skipped the first mile. Then, about 2 miles in ... I fell. I felt my ankle rolling so I decided I'd rather have skinned knees than a sprained ankle. They got tore up pretty good. We had to stop a few times to bandage them up so we didn't scare off the other hikers with the blood running down my shins. So our first "b" of the day was blood.
We hiked a few more miles and we were really getting into a grove. It sure didn't look like the desert or feel like Mexico was only a few miles away. It was actually pretty lush.
Now a few miles later we were cruzing along and I heard a buzzing. Mind you, I am very allergic to bees. I carry two epi pens with me just in case I get stung. One of my biggest fears about doing this hike was getting stung some place like the throat and having my airways close up out on the trail...ek! So what happens to me my first day...... I get stung by a bee in my THROAT! The bees were so angry, after i got stung seth got dive bombed too. Luckily he had his beanie on and didnt get stung by the bee that tried to sting him in the head. Seth got the bee off of me really quick and it didn't feel like much poison got in me. We had to franticly grab our stuff and run up the trail to get away from all of them. Seth was ready to jab me with the epi pen, but I opted for 4 Benadryl. We continued on and could only hope for the best.
We hiked with a few other hikers during the rest of the day. Seth realized a few miles later that he lost his bear spray during the bee sting fiasco. Bummer. We later ran into another hiker who picked our bear spray up a ways back down the trail. Yay!
We made it to hauser creek. We took a little break with one of our fellow hikers here. Most of the water sources have been running so far. The break was glorious. The Benadryl was well kicked in by now. Benadryl pretty much could knock out a pony and I had to hike about 10 miles loopy on the stuff. Seth says it was like hiking with a zombie. From hauser creek we had a huge climb up to the lake Morena Camp ground. And we made it! We got into camp a little late because of all the stops for my knee and the Benadryl stuper I was in, but we set up camp and ended the day with our final "b" of the day BURRITOS! We made some steak fajita rice and wrapped that up in a tortilla and of course added hot sauce.
It was freezing at night, literally. I think it got down to 30 degrees. We went to bed full and warm in our bags. While the day had a few curve balls I think we handled them well. What a memorable first day of our thru hike. On to tomorrow for more adventure.
-Kristin
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Location:Lake Morena
