April 23

    After the convention, Terry's dad and stepmom drove us to the start at Campo.  We were all in good spirits.  There were between 20 and 30 people there, including Cowell Lindsey from the Kiwani's who is going to hike with us to Lake Morena.  After the parting ceremony, we started hiking at almost 3:00.  Ron Horvitz and his wife, Martha, along with their son, Ben, did the first five miles to Campo Creek.  We hiked until 6:30 then camped on the trail.  It felt so good to finally be on the trail after waiting and getting ready.  What I feel most tonight is joy at the chain of events, both good and bad, that have lead to this adventure.

April 24

   An early start, with 12 miles to Lake Morena.  The day got hot really early.  After a little bit of a disaster the first night, we decided not to put the fly up.  This morning both of the tents were wet inside from the dew.

   I left a few minutes before Terry and Lowell.  It turned out to be another very hot day.  I was supposed to meet them about 7 miles up the trail.  I waited for 40 minutes for them and then went on to Houser Creek.  Once at Houser Creek, I discovered to my dismay that my water filter was not working.  So my first full day on the trail I was confronted by a serious water problem.  I had one liter of water and 4-1/2 miles of hiking with a 1500 foot ascent entirely shadeless and 90 degree heat.  I still haven't seen Terry and Lowell and think that maybe they missed the turn off the road and ended up taking the road to Morena.  So I started up Morena Butte.  Almost to the top and now down to about a third of a liter of water.  Lowell's wife, Diane, comes running down the hill with 2 gallons of water.  It turned out that Terry and Lowell were having their own water problems, and Lowell had reached his wife by cell phone and told her they were going to be late and short of water.  It seemed kind of funny to be struggling up this incline and see someone running down it.  I got to Lake Morena at a little after 4:00 and sat down to wait for them.  At about 5:00, Brian and Cheryl showed up.  They took me to the nearest little store for a chocolate malt ice cream.  I also got a can of sardines.  Sounds like a Ben & Jerry flavor, "Chocolate Malt Sardine lowfat yogurt."  When we got back to the trail, I heard they had still not arrived.  We decided that I would get our campsite and then head back up trail.  When I got back to the trail head they had arrived.  Also, Jim Cann, Terry's girlfriend, Marcy, and a friend from her  church group, all brought good which we picked at.  Terry and Lowell had met another through hiker, Cricket, with the trail name "Grasshopper" who is thru hiking.  A little later on in the evening, Joe Sigurdson, Joe Crines and a guy from London showed up for a little while.

April 25

    Another restless night, both Terry and I woke up seven or eight times during the night.  Once when a group of three racoons decided to eat some of the Fritos we had left out.  I went to chase them off and they left peacefully.  Not that I was going to force them.  I was amazed at how their eyes shine in the beam of a flashlight.  We set off for Cibbets Flats.  At six miles out we were going to stop at a little store for snacks and drinks.  the store was closed down and we found Cricket sitting on the side of the road thinking about going home.  We talked with her for awhile and told her we honored her whatever her decision.  A little later we decided to stop and lay up because of the heat.  Cricket showed up and asked if she could hike with us for a few days.  So there are three of us at least to Idyllwild.  As evening came we decided to find a place to camp. A nice place was available near the road, but it was close the road. We decided that we would try to make Cibbets Flats. Our first real rattlesnake encounter occured on the road as we got to close to one in the road. It turned out to be a very agressive snake who stayed coiled as long as we were detectable to him. to After a long frustrating day we made Cibbets Flats at about 9:00 p.m.