PCT 2015 Day 2: Cloudy Start

• Start: Mile 20.0
• End: Mile 38.5
• Miles: 18.5
• Camp: Lower Morris Meadow

I hiked out of Kickoff at around 9:30am having visited the various gear vendors to make adjustments to my tent and pack. Zpacks fitted me with a trekking-pole-hole patch for my tent which had been missed in the manufacturing, and Gossamer Gear offered to post me an adjusted backpack stay and a prepaid box to ship my current one back, which was super nice of them. I considered hanging around for the water report and the flora and fauna presentation but it would have meant a short hiking day and getting caught up in the bigger number of hikers behind me.

The morning flew by with cloud cover, although not much was missed as the trail was fairly close to the highway most of the time. 

In the middle of the afternoon I met Teresia and Taro who had been hiking together out of Lake Morena since the early morning. I had a rest and a talk and then decided to hike with them until the end of the day, glad of an opportunity to take a slightly slower pace. I probably went off a bit too hard as my left knee has been bugging me, perhaps a bit of tendinitis round the outside. Nothing major, but downhills are a bit unpleasant. 

Taro camped just after Long Canyon but there wasn’t enough space for three and Teresia and I wanted to hike on a bit further. We pitched up at Lower Morris Meadow on a dry patch that looked like it would have been condensation free on a dry night. However the clouds were descending and the whole valley was shrouded in mist. Beautiful in itself but makes everything kind of soggy.