Day 2: Saturday, April 29

(Stud) We spent most of the today at the Kickoff--starting off with a breakfast hosted by the Kickoff committee. we also attended lectures on flaura and fauna of the PCT where I found out that the tree I thought was mesquire was actually manzanite and that we are not hiking in the desert, but rather the chemise chaparral. We also took in a lecture on wilderness first aide and learned about how to deal with snake bites, fractures, heat exhaustion and hypothermia.

Around 4pm, just as the heat of the day was beginning to abate, Dwight, Leslie (GottaHike!) and I headed on down the trail. Leslie and I met a few years ago when we were part of a study on long distance woman hikers. We stopped and made dinner at Boulder Oak Campground which is currently closed to overnight camping beause a protected species of frogs are in mating season there. Ironically enough, it is the Horny Toads species.

We resumed hiking under a nearly full moon. Around 9pm we started looking for spots to camp and the middle of the trail was starting to look like the best possibility. But on a hunch Dwigth decides to do the human bush hog through the sage brush and low and behold finds a campfire ring and an open patch of sand just yards from the trail. There was enogh space for Leslie to set up her tent and we are sleepig cowboy style under the stars. The temperature is about 70 with a nice light breeze--perfect sleeping weather. Ithink I could really warm up to night hiking.