Oh no, she’s going back to the beginning. Every year, as the PCT season begins, there is the Annual Zero Day PCT Kick off or as a thru hiker calls it AZDPCTKO. 

My friend Eva picked me up from Idyllwild, and has been spoiling me all weekend with Sushi, Machaca and lots of love! Then Dee surprised and hooked up with Eva and I, and with the excellent driving skills of Keith, and the mediocre navigation of Siri, we all arrived at Lake Moreno!

  
The Kick Off has many ultralight vendors along with informative presentations on things like Water Report, or lack of, Overuse Injuries, Flora and Fauna of the PCT and don’t forget the smells of thru hikers! There is a reason they left the doors fully open during the presentations! 

  
But honestly, there were two distinct reasons why I had to attend the Kickoff this year. # 1 reason, I wanted my prestigious 2015 PCT Bandana and #2 was I had a small but significant issue with my tent. Last year when I purchased my very lightweight Six Moons tent, I had not yet purchased my one size 120cm hiking poles. Unfortunately for my tent, it does not fond of my too tall poles and has put too much stress on the tent. During a extremely windy situation at Sunrise Park which was day five on the trail, my tent tore! So as I explained my dilemma to the owner and designer of Six Moon tents, he graciously offers to exchange my torn tent with a new tent that accommodates my super long hiking poles! I love Six Moons and Tom. You guys absolutely rock. 

  
So bandana-check, new and improved tent- check, now I can just relax and see what other cool things might find their way into my pack. Gossamer had a couple of items that I was interested in. One thing I purchased last year was an extra storage pouch for my phone that attaches to my pack. My trail friend Jules, aka Breeze has been eyeing that so I was able to pick one up for her. In addition I found an ultralight trowel for digging. Yes, I do poop in the woods and my trowel was quite heavy so it’s all about saving ounces at this point and for $10, I saved 3.2 ounces! Also, they were selling this amazingly small bear canister, no, not to put a bear inside but to keep the bear out of my food! It weighs 1.4 pounds instead of 2.4 pounds and retails at $59.95 but being they were ready to pack up their stuff, I scored the display canister with cool stickers on it for $40. God was blessing me with more than I could imagine. What a day! 

  
So all in all, a super fabulous trip to the Kickoff including participating in my 2015 Class Picture! If you look closely I am wearing the only white jacket in the photo. Go figure, I stand out in the crowd! 

God’s graces are incredible. Ask and you shall a receive; new tent, lightweight trowel, cool bear proof canister, class picture and bandana, gift for my trail friend, but the greatest is the love of friends who travel many many miles to make me feel loved and extra special! Thanks to Eva and Keith for driving no less than a thousand miles to love on me! And Dee, can’t wait to see you on the trail with your new pack! Love is the number one commandment! And boy oh boy, did I get love this weekend! 😄