Miles: 15.35

Doug and I pick at our plates. The buffet at the hotel is everything a breakfast lover would wish for but I’m just not hungry. This is it. This is the day. It still doesn’t feel real. I’m excited and nervous and sad all at once. I try to camel up on water and distract myself from thinking about saying goodbye. We get the check, I pocket some fruit, use the nice hotel restroom, checkout and then we get in the car. 

The drive from Sandiego to Campo feels like 5 minutes even though the gps says about an hour.

I can’t contain my excitement when I recognize the PCT trail markers crossing the road (I’m going to walk there, and there, and there) and then we arrive at the monument! A few cars are parked below it and my excitement turns into shyness. 

“Are they other hikers?” I whisper to Doug.

“I don’t know, I don’t see any backpacks” he whispers back.

We take some photos at the monument. The border goes on and on as far as the eye can see. A giant line drawn in the land, yet the terrain looks the same on either side.  

  
   

It still doesn’t feel real. Doug walks with me down the trail. It’s surprisingly green! Butterflies swirl around us. Wild flowers dot the sand banks with color.

  
We come across some horse poop in the middle of the trail. 
“My first horse poop!” I joke.

We laugh and walk on. 

“Snake!!!” Doug pulls me back, my heart in my throught as I try to avoid it mid step. 

We pause, Doug trying to gage my reaction, I look up:

“My first Snake!” I beam.

And then it hits me like a wave, how nice it is to share that first snake on the pct with him. I’m going to miss this wonderful person. We will always have that first snake.

Doug walks the first 2 miles with me, we cross a road, and then I experience one of the most difficult things, we say goodbye. I watch to make sure he gets back across the road okay until he disappears down the trail. 

And then it’s just me…. and the rocks, and the bushes, and the dead trees. I loose track of how many lizards.   

    
  

The grass wants to kill me haha.  

 Finally found a shelf to keep all of my rocks.