Capt Dan PCT 2015 VLOG #5- Kitchen Creek to Pioneer Mail

So it's days 3 and 4 and I'm starting to get a little confidence. No disasters occurred in my first 2 days. I survived without dying or getting lost. Maybe I can do this afterall. You can research all you want, but until you get on the trail you don't really know what you're going to be dealing with. After getting water from Kitchen Creek, I hiked a little bit with Tallahassee and Sage in the morning but eventually they pulled ahead. I made it to Mount Laguna and treated myself to a night in their lodge. There's an excellent outfitters there and many hikers get their gear checked out there. Pretty much everyone starts out with too much gear. This is a good place to get squared away, and have excess gear mailed back home. Obviously, there are a lot of "firsts" when you start the PCT. On day one it was my first railroad track, first canyon and first night in my tent. On day two I walked under my first bridge and got my first water on the trail. On day three I spent my first night in paid lodging. I got a late start out of Mt Laguna and I made camp early that afternoon due to weather. I experienced my first windy day and saw my first set of really nice views looking down into a huge valley to the east. By the time I reached the Pioneer Mail picnic area, a storm was moving in so I decided to not take my chances by going up a long climb into the Laguna Mountains with a storm. The winds were very strong, so cooking my evening meal and setting up my tent was a challenge but I found a semi-sheltered spot and hunkered down. This was my first time in my tent in bad weather and I didn't sleep much. Miles 29.5 thru 53