We couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised by just how lush and alive the landscape and scenery along the first 20 miles of this trail has been. We knew, of course, that all of California had been getting rocked by heavy rains all winter long, but nonetheless expected that the ever-parched nearby desert lands would have long ago sucked the moisture from this entire area. Wonderfully, this extraordinary year it isn't so.
Horses are grazing in verdant, lush pastures. White tailed Jack Rabbits skip accross the trail in happy groupings of two and three. Streams rush over the trail every half mile. Wild flowers are still blooming. The creek bed valleys between the green chapparel covered hillsides are lush and overgrown, idyllically shaded by the great and steadfast live oaks which dominate the upper canopies of flora throughout the region. Our guide book warns that hikers beware: no water sources reliable until the Lake Morena resevoir campground twenty miles up the trail. This year, on our trail, this couldn't have been less a concern.
The first night out we hiked north about 5 miles before throwing down our ground cloth and sleeping under the open sky. We had been warned by Chuck and Stewart not to camp so close to the border as there were so many illegal immigrants coming by every night and our chances of passing the night alone were slim. We woke up only a couple of times throughout the night, hearts racing, ear drums taut, certain that the odd rabit rustling about in the chapparel was a starving and cold human being, forced to take desperate measures with us over our clothing and food stores. The night, however, passed uneventfully and we awoke early to an overcast morning and brisk cool winds.
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