Lake Morena & Fred Canyon Tent Site

Miles Hiked 32.0 
Elevation 4,219 feet 
Miles Hiked Today 16.6 

Everyone in our group was up early. I was up with them at 5:00 AM. Without humidity, the temperatures had dropped overnight to a very cool temperature. I was comfortable in my 15 degree sleeping bag and didn’t even need my jacket that early in the morning.

No one has said anything about distance to be hiked today, but I was confident I could do at least 20 miles to keep up with the other hikers. I was one of the first off to the trail at 6:15 AM, which in itself was novel. I’m usually last or near last.

The trail seems to go continuously up, but of course it doesn’t. Still, I like to believe it does so I can quietly vent frustration with my slow progress. Lake Morena is ahead where water is available.

A couple of hours and there was the lake off in the distance. I made my way down a steep descent to arrive at the lake campground. The first thing I saw walking in was trail magic! Wow, shades of the start of the Appalachian Trail. There was a big trail magic right at the beginning of the AT when I started in 2016. This PCT trail magic was not quite as big, but it had what I and every other hiker needed.

I sat down and immediately had two Gatorades and a large glass of orange juice. The sponsor of the trail magic had a long name, which I never wrote down. They were associated in some way with the Pacific Crest Trail Association. Years ago, instead of a tent with food and drink offerings for hikers, this event was similar to Trail Days on the AT. They rented the whole campground and had all the top hiking equipment vendors displaying their products. When the PCTA put a quota on the number of hikers who can start each day, they essentially killed the event. There were not enough hikers coming through the campground on a given weekend to support the vendor participation.

After relaxing for about an hour, I put my backpack on and continued down the trail. Later, as the other hikers in my group passed me, I found out the plan was to stop at the Fred Canyon tentsite.

The trail wasn’t too difficult. It went up and down from around 3,100 feet and 3,400 feet a couple of times, and then it climbed to its final elevation of 4,219 feet.

The tent site put our group a little less than 10 miles from Mt. Laguna. I had no plans to go into the town, but everyone else did. Maybe I’ll change my mind. We’ll see in the morning.