Day 1 - We have lift off!!!

Peter and Ed planning the logistics downtown Calgary

After many months of planning and countless hours of training we have lift off on the 2018 Walking People out of Poverty. We were picked up by a Trail Angel at 6:00 am, for the approximately 60 mile trip to the trail head. En Route we went to Carl's Jr. for a cheap and cheerful breakfast. Unfortunately the real breakfast place didn't open until 7 and we had places to go and people to see!! Our Trail Angel, Mark Arndt, was a native of San Diego and a keen bird watcher as well as being extremely knowledgeable about the native flora and fauna. Altogether a thoroughly nice guy.

We arrived at the trail head which is right by the Mexican border, and were shocked by the number of hikers who were already there. After the obligatory photos we departed at 7:45 am on the button.

The first mile was covered in 20 minutes and the walking very easy. It was obviously a ploy to make us think the trail would be like this all day. Little did we know it would get tougher as the day wore on.

Before I go any further it would be remiss of me not to make special mention of a company who are doing something incredible around my walk. I didn't mention it last night as I wanted to ensure they got a Big Bang for their Buck. Last week I was on a conference call with Doris Olafsen and unbeknown to me Doris also had John, Steve and Kim Buller from Legacy Kitchens on the phone. Turns out Legacy are doing something special at the end of May, in honour of my walk. I feel both blessed and privileged by this amazing gesture. I don't want to steal Legacy's thunder and so I'm going to invite them to take over my blog on my test day from the PCT when I have my rest day in Palm Springs at the end of next week. I will leave the Legacy folks to sort it out with Ed.

Now back to the walk. The trail got progressively more difficult as the day wore on. The combination of the terrain and the heat made for very difficult conditions, especially once we had reached Hauser Creek at Mile 15. It's a long walk down to the campsite followed by an extremely tough uphill section in the heat of the day. Once at the top the trial just went on and on and on and we finally arrived at Lake Moreno at 6:45 after a long day. The weather cooled off very quickly this evening especially because of the wind so now it's time for bed!!!

Peter Thorpe