May 19, 2024 - Day 2

After getting set up for camp last night, a guy by the name of Rory aka ‘Calhoun’ rolled in to our spot around 5 pm. Great guy. Biked from east coast to west coast last year, from Florida, and graduated from Mass Meritime up in Buzzards Bay, MA. We told him we were gonna be up and out of camp around 6 this morning. He was in. Devin now has his trail name as well. He goes by Spoons. Definitely saw that one coming.

This morning, the three of us got moving around 6:25 and headed to Lake Morena, SoCal rec area with a camper/RV spot on the water. Awesome area. We walked about an 1/8th of a mile off trail to grab some breakfast burritos and beer from Oak Shores Malt Shop. Nothing like a 10AM Modelo tall boy and a three meat breakfast burrito to keep you going in the desert.

After that, we hit a hot stretch that lasted a couple miles until we hit a bridge overpass with a creek running ice cold water underneath and waded in the water for a couple hours as the worst of the heat passed through. Met back up with Mike aka ‘Anonymous’ and Francesco aka ‘Self Made’. It’s becoming increasingly more exciting to run into familiar faces.

After the cool off, the trail led to some unbelievable views and vistas. The uniquely wet Spring for SoCal had left the creeks still flowing and beautiful green vegetation. It’s made for lighter and shorter water carries. Can’t imagine starting this trail with 6+L of water on my back.

We ran into two horses riding the trail and kept marching. The last section of the trail today was a bit hot with mostly exposed trail but so stoked to be out here and enjoying the views. Set up camp at mile 32 and ran back into a couple familiar faces with their new trail names. Amazing group of people out here. Couldn’t be more excited to see what tomorrow has to offer.

Oh and I guess I go by ‘Mozart’ now. Something about bringing a harmonica and not knowing how to play it.

Happy trails…