We left the campground and continued along the escarpment with great views over the desert. Someone had spelled “50” in stones marking the distance so far (its a thing). Ros scratched 80 so you know what it is in km.The view above is in the general direction of our trail. We will be going past/over the snow-covered mountains in the distance.We are moving into the drier hotter area of the desert so we need good planning for our water needs, and are starting to hike as early in the morning as possible and having a siesta in the hottest part of the day.We got to the last water re-supply point for 18 miles, so we filled up our largest amount of water so far, and hiked another 4 miles, where we cowboy camped in order to get away quickly the next day.

Today was a steady climb from Fred’s canyon at 4500 ft to Mt Laguna at 6000 ft. With the increase in elevation we noticed a progression of vegetation from low scrubby bushes to tall pines. The fragrance of the forest was a nice contrast to the hot dry air of the desert.

We noticed a few trees with small holes in the bark all the way up. Some busy little squirrels had been at work because every hole had a little acorn in it!

Just about every PCT hiker stops in at the Mt Laguna general store for a snack or needed supplies so we followed the trend.

Hiking on in the heat of the early afternoon was a drudge but after about an hour we came to the edge of the escarpment and were greeted by the most incredible view of the desert below us.

Since we only planned to hike about 12 miles today there was no hurry to start so we moseyed over to the convenience store at 7am opening time for a few supplies and a serving of scrambled eggs and potatoes.We hit the road around 9 feeling good and quickly walked out the stiffness from the day before. We expected to be walking through dry barren desert but have been amazed at the beauty of the mountains and the abundance of green vegetation. The well graded trail winds gently up the slopes and is bordered with wildflowers and green grasses.Instead of blazing sun and temperatures up around 40, we have enjoyed cool breezes and even rain and distant thunder. Rob got his first use of his sun umbrella – for a brief shower.We are camped beside a trickling stream and are warm in our new sleeping bags after a delicious dinner.

I just realised that the previous entry was labeled “Day -1” but that was yesterday. I don’t know what happened to Day 0.So our day started at 5am when we got up, packed up our last few things and joined another 20 excited hikers for breakfast (yet another generosity from Scout and Frodo). Then at 6am sharp we were taken in a convoy of cars (more kind volunteers) to the start of the PCT near Campo and right on the Mexican border. Yes, there is a wall. We touched it so we can say that we have actually gone from border to border.After a group photo and a few words of wisdom from some PCTA volunteers, we were on our way.Our ambitious goal was to walk 20 miles to Lake Morena, which turned out to be a strenuous start, but we arrived in good spirits which were further lifted when we encountered our trail magic. Alice “Stone dancer” who through hiked some years ago has been greeting hikers at Lake Morena with a hug and drink and food since 2000.We had a number of reasons for pushing through to Lake Morena : there was a campground with 50c hot showers, and a store that sold malted thickshakes.As darkness fell, we cracked open our brand new tent which turned out to be easy to put up, and so we had a good night’s sleep.

Yes, we have arrived, after a straightforward but long 28 hours of traveling door (home) to door (airbnb San Diego). The flight over was only 12.5 hours, but then we had a 2.5 hour wait to get through immigration. The queue was huge and had more zigzags than something that has a lot of zigzags. But the outcome was permission to stay for up to 6 months, so we have no excuse now.

We got the train down to San Diego, with an extra one hour delay while we waited for a “trespassing incident” to be cleared. We have been staying in a nice airbnb apartment near the centre of the city and taking our time to do things like getting a Sim card and other gear.

So we having been doing plenty of walking before the real walk (=training?), visiting supermarkets where you can buy empty gelatin capsules to make your own medicines if you can’t find a ready made one to suit.

I have put a few San Diego photos on the Photos page.

We need 6 months to hike the PCT – this means getting Tourist Visas to stay in the US. For us, this meant flying to Sydney to attend an interview at the US Consulate. We were a bit nervous about what we might be asked so went with lots of evidence about employment, bank funds, etc. Fortunately, the interviewer knew what the PCT was, so we didn’t have to explain why we couldn’t provide an accommodation address for our stay while in the US (“tent, in the middle of nowhere”?). Apart from lots of queuing and security screening, our interview went smoothly – not so the poor guy in front of us from Iran who was looking at possible delays of months before finding out if he and his wife would be allowed to stay in the US.

Anyway, now we are the proud owners of Tourist Visas valid for 5 years! But the weird thing is, we won’t know how long we can actually stay until we land in Los Angeles. Hopefully we will be granted a stay of at least 6 months, which we will need to complete the PCT.

Also we have now got our PCT Permits, and Entry into Canada via the PCT approvals, and Californian Fire Permits (needed even for using a gas stove).