3 days and 42 miles later, we have made it to our first destination-Mount Laguna. My feet are a bit sore (understatement) and I have some new blister buddies who refuse to leave me but so far my journey has been incredible!! On our first night, we met some lovely new people who we have been hiking with since. So far, this trek has been so liberating. I am surprised at how many miles we are able to cover when we literally have the whole day ahead of us and nothing else to do but hike.

The first day was quite hot. We decided to take a cat nap in the sun and wait for the weather to cool. We got into Hauser camp (16 miles) at around 4:30, where we met our new friends. The next morning we climbed 1,000 feet and almost back down to reach Lake Morena (20 miles). After a hefty breakfast burrito and some conversations with the locals, we continued our way to Boulder Oak Campground (26 miles) where we were planning on staying the night. However, once we got there, we felt we could take on another 6 miles to get to Fred Creek Canyon (32 miles). Another 1,000 feet in elevation later, we arrived to Fred Creek Canyon where we met up with the rest of our new friends and stayed the night.
Did you know it rains in the desert??? Yup, that’s right. Last night it rained on us. Luckily, Joe and I have plenty experience in the rain so it did not affect us much. And I was happy we decided to take on the extra 6 miles the day before, that way we only had to hike 10 miles to Mount Laguna in the rain instead of the 16 originally planned. Once we arrived, we immediately sought refuge at the Pine House Cafe and Tavern. Warm coffee and a big burger greeted us with open arms. After, we picked up some supplies at the outfitter (I discovered I needed gloves as it gets extremely cold in the rain) and some food to last us until Julian. We stayed until dinner, helped clean up, and the lovely owners let us sleep in the dining room of the cafe so that we did not have to sleep in the rain again! It has been quite the magical adventure!
Here are some photos so far: 

Until next time. ➡️&⬆️