PCT Terminus

This past weekend I got to test out my wind/rain pants, down pants and my tent. Sara, Brendan, and I planned on heading out to Corral Canyon OHV area to do some mountain biking, rock climbing, and camping. I've been to this area a number of times since the SDSU Cycling team put on our mountain bike race here. There is an awesome network of trails unlike anything else in San Diego with some awesome downhills.

Corral Canyon is located only 6 miles from Campo, CA, and since none of us had ever been to the southern terminus of the PCT, we had to go!

The drive out there was surprisingly easy, especially for getting so close to the border. Even though we saw about a thousand border patrol trucks, ATV's, etc., we were never even approached by an agent.

We read through the register and besides a number of section hikers, there has actually been a few thru-hikers who have already started! It seems so early to be already heading north unless they are taking an extremely slow pace. Otherwise, they are going to hit the Sierras before they allow the snow to melt, especially if we get hit with a number of late season storms. 

After our time at the border, we headed to Corral Canyon and hiked to the climbing area. The area is called Corte Madera, I have never climbed here before, so the rest of the day was mostly just a few hours of hiking and a lot of exploring at the rocks.

There was possible rain in the forecast for Saturday night. So once we got to camp, Brendan and I set up our ZPacks Hexamid solo tents and Sara set up her REI tent for her and Harlan. This was the first time Brendan and I had set up the Hexamids outside and we were impressed with how easy it is to set up. ZPacks doesn't seam seal their tents (unless you want to pay an additional $20-30), so you have to do it yourself. Brendan was smart and had sealed his tent the night before. As for me, I was less smart and waited until we got to the camp to seal it. And since it was supposed to rain that night, I had to work quickly to allow the material to dry before it started raining. 

It did rain that night, but the seams had plenty of time to dry before it started. We had a constant drizzle from about 11pm-5am, along with a pretty strong wind throughout the night. The tent was great! Despite only having one pole for support, the tent felt very strong in the wind. I was not worried one bit about the pole falling over in the middle of the night from a strong gust. The tent also kept me and all of my gear dry without any excessive rain splash under the tent. ZPacks recommends putting your ground cloth on the inside of the mesh floor to help with rain splash. It worked perfectly by creating a lip on the edges of the ground cloth which kept the water out.  

Here is Sara being jealous of my tent and Harlan acting less interested....

My down pants were also amazing when it got cold Saturday night! They were super warm and will be a nice item to have when the temps drop on the PCT. My wind pants were also awesome. They are a perfect layer for while hiking if a cold wind picks up. I'm very happy with both of those.