Honeymoon Hike on the PCT

Being a long distance backpacker, I of course felt that a perfect honeymoon would be to go backpacking. My new bride Margaret did make the mistake of saying that she would follow me anywhere. I'm useing a Kumo pack and she is useing an older Mariposa. My base weight is around 8 lbs. and hers around 6. My tent is a Squall Classic that I got from Gossamer Gear.

I have been on the PCT many times, and decided to hike section A and go to the ADZPCTKO (annual day zero pacific crest trail kick off) which is basically a four day party for backpackers.

The honeymoon was planned, now all we have to do is get married. We picked a day that I had off work and she was only working a half day. There was a slight wrinkle in our plan though, Marg works for the county driving a bus for the disabled and elderly, and one of the other buses broke down so she had to go get those people too, which meant that she would be working all day. The judge in Palmerton Pa (a trail town for the AT) was marrying us, and she would be driving the bus through Palmerton later in the day, and she does get a five minute pee break. The judge and I were all ready for her, she pulled in out front of the courthouse, we got married and off she drove.

Now off to the trail. She had never hiked before, so I took her on two practice hikes at home on the AT, a five mile hike and a seven mile hike without a pack. I felt that was plenty of practice, so at the border I put a pack on her and had her walk 20 miles with Hauser Mt. at the 15 mile mark to go over, to camp at Lake Morena. For some reason she didn't seem real happy that night, but she did wake me up at 4 in the morning to start hiking that could have been because we were heading to Mt Laguna where there was a motel.

The walk up to Warner Springs was great, there were lots of wild flowers and great views along the way, and the best part of any hike like this is the friends you make along the way. We hitched a ride back to Mt Laguna( for another motel night) from Warner Springs and walked back to Lake Morena for the party.

The packs were great, I carried all the food and the extra water and the Kumo handled it great. She had never carried a pack before and loved the Mariposa.

She is now addicted to hiking and we go out on the AT (we live less than a mile from it) every chance we get and she now wants to hike the rest of the PCT. I knew that backpacking would be a perfect honeymoon.

This post was contributed by Trail Ambassador Carl Rush.