PCT day 3

Day 3 - mile 26-42 (16 miles) woke up at 5am, started hiking at 0620am. It was an uphill walk from interstate 8, but not bad as it's PCT grade. Finally got away from views of highways and got our first pine tree. Also our first natural water source. Met more hikers. Everybody but 1 is attempting to thru hike. Am astounded by the section hiker, as frankly, this section from the border to Mt Laguna is not actually that great, though of course I'm happy to be here. Met a couple the previous day who had hiked the PCT in 1999 and wanted to see the desert again, so were hiking from Lake Morena to Mt Laguna and back. After doing it, we were pretty miffed by their choice, but to each their own.

Made it to Mt Laguna and were almost bamboozled by a hiker who said not to bother going into town as everything was closed. I waffled,.but grant was strong. "Hike your own hike". Of course, we made it to the outfitter, where there was free beer, then grabbed a cabin (pretty crappy, er, rustic for the price) and made dinner. Restaurants were closed, but still worth the alternately.walk into town. Was handed a bucket for laundry and told not to do laundry in sink or bath tub, and not to dump.water.in either. Our clothes were pretty filthy, and hikers have been trashing the place. Yikes. Beer, chatting, sleep. A good day 3. Click on Instagram link to the right for photos or here