And So It Begins!

Day 1:
As we drove up to the trailhead, my heart was racing and my hands were shaking. The past three months had all been in preparation for this and here I was, finally, and suddenly the stage fright was kicking in. We stood there at the marker, took a couple pictures, and we suddenly realized we had no idea where the trail went amongst all the dirt roads winding around the border. After studying the map, we got our bearings and headed out in the right direction. Because there wouldn't be a reliable water source for about 15 miles, we were carrying 10 liters of water between the two of us. At 2 lbs. per liter, that was a lot! But we had no desire to run out of water in the hot sun, so we happily carried it all.
Shortly after beginning we passed three people. It was very hot and we were climbing a lot, but we were feeling great! We were getting into a great rhythm when BAM! A rattlesnake right in the smack middle of the trail. That sure got our hearts racing! The snake slithered off the trail and we resumed walking, this time a little more aware of what was around us. The next thing we knew, there was another rattlesnake on the trail! Two in one day! It was a sign.
Around six o'clock we came to a place called Hauser Creek (about 16 miles in) and discovered that there was in fact water there even though we had heard it was dry. There were some other hikers at the creek who said they were going to eat dinner and then hike 4 more miles to Lake Morena. We decided that we were going to try to do that as well, figuring it would take us about 2 hours to get there given the pace we had been going.
We set out at seven o'clock up the big hill and soon had to pull our headlamps out as the sun went down. We walked for what seemed like forever in the dark, even stopping to check the map for fear of being lost. Finally we stumbled into camp at 10:30 at night, barely able to stand on our feet, and headed straight for the showers. After washing up, we made camp, ate dinner at midnight, and finally went to sleep, hoping our feet would feel better in the morning.

Day 2:
After waking up still unable to walk very well, we decided that we would definitely not make the same choice again that we had the night before. Lesson learned. By the time we taped up our feet, packed up camp, and found the trail again, it was already 11:00, an extremely late start. A couple hours of hiking later, we were hot, tired, chafing, and in pain, when out of the blue an almost-naked old man came wandering down the trail ahead of us. We had a much needed laugh and continued a few more miles before stopping for camp, today completing only half the miles we did the day before.

Day 3:
We prepared for the day thinking our blistered feet wouldn't carry us more than one mile. We ended up going 12! It was by far the hardest day yet. I came up with a few ways to cope with the pain of each step:
1. GET ANGRY: listen to an emotionally charged song and channel that anger
2. Say a different curse word every time I take a step
3. VERY deep breaths

Towards the end of the da, my spirits were down and I was seriously doubting my ability to continue on the trail. There were no more spots left on our feet that could still blister, but we endured through the pain and made camp at a campground about 1 mile away from Mt. Laguna, our first resupply stop.
We, oddly, have had no appetite, and whenever we do eat, we get terrible indigestion and acid reflux. We are barely eating half our food. Hopefully this will change soon because it's a drag carrying way more heavy food than we need to be.

Day 4:
We couldn't even get our shoes on since our feet were so swollen and raw, so we each put on 3 pairs of socks and hobbled up the road to the Mt. Laguna Store. After picking up our box, we sat out on the porch with 20 other hikers, discussing the amount of agony we were all in and how to combat the pain and thoughts of quitting. My mom and I decided that we needed to take care of our feet before we caused any other injuries and that we would take a day off and spend the night at the lodge in Mt. Laguna.

Day 5:
After three warm Epsom salt baths, a comfy bed, and a new pair of shoes, I felt great! In fact, we felt so great that we hiked 17 miles! Things are looking up and I'm feeling much more confident about the rest of the trail. Now I know that when things are looking down, I just need to take a breather and take care of myself!