April 21, 2012.   Here I am at the pct trailhead marker.   The wall in the background represents the Mexican-American  border.   I was lucky enough to get a ride out here by someone who, in the parlance of the thru-hikers, is a trail angel.    In this case Pea Hicks, aka "Girl Scout,"  who hiked the trail in 2004.    A trail angel is a person who performs random acts of kindness to hikers.     Also in the car on the way out was a fellow who was making a documentary about PCT trail angels, there are many of them, and I was interviewed just before beginning the hike.   Perhaps I will appear in a movie sometime.      

girlscout

On the first day I walked 10.6 miles, temperatures in the 90's, and camped under a small grove of oak trees up a jeep trail just off the pct.