California – Retired Hiker

Friday, April 24, 2026. Mostly sunny and 36 going up to 67.

Up at 5:30. A bit chilly this morning, but the sun isn’t fully up yet. Slept fairly well last night. Coyotes woke me up at least once.

Had a nice breakfast provided by the staff, packed up, got my PCT hang tag, and headed to the Mexican border. The staff at CLEEF are really amazing. And it’s all volunteer.

It was an easy half-mile walk south to the border. I walked there with Aubrey, who is a fellow AT thru-hiker. That wall is much larger in person than it looks on TV.

Brad was already at the PCT Southern Terminus Monument when we arrived. Me, Brad, and Aubrey took each other’s pictures on the monument.

We then walked to the actual border wall and touched Mexico before heading north to Canada. This is the official start of our 2,655-mile adventure!

Brad and I left together at 7:35. We took each other’s picture at the famous 3-mile marker.

Orange Man at the Famous PCT 3-Mile Sign

We planned to go 16 miles to camp. Both of us would have preferred a 13-mile day, but water will be dictating a lot of our plans. I started the day with 4 liters of water, which means a 32.5-lb pack. Ugh.

We stopped for water and a snack at 9:30 and 4.4 miles. Natalie was already there taking a break. We both refilled 1 liter of water and moved on after a 15-minute break. The next water is in 10 miles. As we were leaving, Aubrey, Brian, Hell Yeah, Britta, Nile, and John arrived, followed by Pebbles.

We started a long ascent into the desert. There were no clouds in the sky, and the sun was hot. I was not covering my face or arms with my sun hoodie. More on that later.

We stopped for a break and a snack in the only shade we had seen all day at 11:10 and 7.75 miles. We have been climbing since we hit water at mile 4.4 and have 1.6 more miles of climbing. Then it’s flat and downhill to camp.

The temperature was only about 70, but the constant sun and long, steady climb made it quite warm. We stopped for a break at 1:30 and 11.5 miles in the shade. We started the day at 3 miles per hour but slowed to about 2 miles per hour. I was really feeling those 32 lbs on my hips.

We took another break at mile 13 in the shade. My feet and hips were really feeling the weight plus the first day blues.

We reached the water cache at 3:00 and 14.6 miles. This cache is maintained by the staff at CLEEF. This day would be brutal without the cache.

The sun finally started to get to me. My arms were okay, but I think I burned my lips and my face a bit. Not terrible, but still. I started hiking with the hood of the sun hoodie up from here on.

There is no water at camp, and we have 5 miles uphill in the morning before we reach water. I carried 5 liters or 11 lbs of water the next 1.2 miles to camp. That made for a 37 lb pack on day 1. Let me tell you how much that sucked!

The last mile was steep downhill with slippery, loose sand and a huge weight on my back and hips. Just a bit sketchy.

We got to Hauser Creek at 3:50 and set up camp. We beat all but 2 hikers here and basically got the best camp spots in the shade of a grove of trees. Awesome!

As expected, I needed that 5 liters of water. Between rehydrating and making dinner I went through almost 3 liters leaving me with 2 liters for the first 5 miles tomorrow.

My hips were SCREAMING by the time I dropped my pack. I had to rest for a bit before setting up camp. That is very unusual for me. Walking was very challenging at this point.

Brad and I set up camp by 4:30. Really nice camp spot! Just after we set up, Aubrey, Niall, Natalie, and Jacob arrived. Natalie took a spot in our area, and the rest camped another 50 yards onward. Another much longer, Wyoming pitched her tent with us. She is celebrating her 50th birth year by hiking 5000 miles, including the PCT.

Brad and I made dinner about 6:30. I was pleasantly surprised to have a good appetite. I usually don’t the first week on the trail.

Hips were still pretty bad. I decided that sitting was not helping, so I walked around camp for the next hour, which helped a lot.

Britta, from Germany, arrived around 7:00 and made camp with us. She was not feeling well and had all the signs of altitude sickness. We were worried about her, but she started feeling better and managed to eat eventually.

Brian and Hell Yeah showed up at some point and took the lady 2 spots in our camp area. Brian is a ski instructor from Salt Lake City, and Hell Yeah is an Aussie miner.

We all hung out and chatted until 8:30. It turns out Hell Yeah is carrying a 50-lb pack. He is a big young guy, but still, that’s insane. We had a lot of fun poking fun at his gear, including the largest cooking pot I have ever seen on the trail. All in good fun.

Crawled into my tent at 8:30 and worked on blogs until 9:15. Read for a bit and tried to get to sleep at 10:00.

Overall, it was a good first day. I’m not sure if Brad and I will hike together long-term, but we should be good for at least the next week. The mileage was difficult due to the heavy water carry. I should not have to do that again for at least 2 weeks! I plan to send my camp shoes home in a couple of days. I’ll probably just stick with my trail shoes for now and think about camp shoes much later on. That will save me about 12 ounces and some bulk in my pack.