Day 1 Monday 4/16 7:14PM Mile 16.5

Really fucking fantastic first day. It was pretty Tuff, but I am surprised and pleased with how well everything went, and how good I feel right now. This morning began in San Diego. I flew into San Diego yesterday, and took a bus into town to meet my Dad at the train station. He was coming from a conference in LA. We were picked up by a trail supporter or "angel" , who we had arranged to host us for the night and drive us to the trail the following morning. Super nice ex navy guy. His dog just had puppies a few weeks ago, so there were 5 teeny miniature pinscher's being painfully adorable at his house. So soft! So rough and tumbly! I was happy for an early night. I started developing a cold - God damn the bad luck! And three hours of sleep plus a plane ride on Saturday was not doing me any favors.  I woke up feeling pretty good though, just a lingering raw throat, and hacking cough.  We got to the trail head at the Mexican border just before 7am. I t was a pretty wonderful moment. This time last year I came out to the trail even though my leg was still a bit of a broken mess, and I was a little bitter about not being able to hike.  It's definitely surreal to actually be doing it right now.  I'm sad that my dad is going home tomorrow.  He was going to do the whole first two weeks with me last year, but then I went and broke my shit and ruined everything.  It was a super special day with him today though, and I think he feels the same.  Pictures at the monument at the Southern terminus took a minute.  My mom special requested that I take pictures at the start of the trail in my favorite red high heels.  I wasn't thrilled by the idea.  A little embarrassing, and a recipe for another broken ankle was what I was thinking.  It was an awesome idea.  First of all, it was hilarious to be strutting around in my heels and hiking gear.  Totally evaporated the nervous butterflies.  Plus, I love those high heels.  They are my confidence shoes, and I've been wearing them when I want to feel sure of myself for like 7 years.  The PCT is the perfect place for my slutty stilettos!  Starting the trail was an amazing feeling.  My dad and I hugged, and off we went.  It was a beautiful, cool morning with no wind and everything sparkling with dew.  The first 3 hours were very pleasant.  We stopped at 10 for our first break.  My dad was getting some blisters from his crappy shoes and wanted to tape them up.  I messed with my GPS thing.  Our next stretch leading up to lunch time was where we started to feel it.  A little bitching: My pack is heavy! My leg hurts! I think I pulled a hammy! But that's it.  No sunburn, no blisters, and my shoulders and legs will get stronger very quickly.  The hiking was hard going at times, but on the whole I was happy the whole day.  Our rest at lunch time with salami and cheese and sugar snap peas was perfect.  Some hikers passed us while we recovered there.  A very sweet British couple, a group of 5, and two Israelis!  The Israelis I met last year on the trail, Stav and Elan, were so great.  Lunch was at about mile 12, and we were wanting to eat supper at Houser Creek at mile 16.  It was a relief to get to the creek.  There was a lovely little grass patch under a madrone tree that we chose to eat supper in.  Damn it felt good to eat and take my pack off.  The Brits and Israelis were camping at at the creek, but we wanted to get a bit further before calling it a day.  We had heard that the border patrol do some pretty intense late night scrutinizing of the trail area around the creek looking for illegal immigrants.  We told our foreign fellows, but they decided they didn't give a shit.  It was a pretty steep, exhausting 1/2 mile to end the day on as the sun set over the trail.  I'm glad we did it though.  I'm worn out, super cozy, surrounded by stars, and it's exactly where I want to be.  I'M ON MY FUCKING ADVENTURE!!  I can't get over it.  I spent a lot of today thinking about what the hell I"m doing out here.  Like why am I spending the next six months spending ten hours every day walking until I've walked the length of America.  There are a lot of things I could become really proficient in putting in this time and energy.  I'm really happy doing this though.

                                Me in my slutty stilettos! Starting MY FUCKING ADVENTURE!!!!

you can check out the rest of my photos here:
https://plus.google.com/photos/105279516800615047684/albums/5733602173402454081?authkey=CPTyl7OwobDFSQ

not sure when I'll have another photo update, but posts should be fairly regular.

Lots of Love,

Georgia