A Cracked Pearl - Thursday, April 10

We had planned to spend a zero day Thursday at Lake Morena and let our bodies heal for a day, but a delay would get us to the Post Office on Mt. Laguna late Saturday, meaning we couldn't get our food drop until Monday at noon when the post office opened. This would be an unnecessary delay. An added incentive for us to leave Lake Morena came in the form of a drifter/hiker/drug addled character camped 15 feet from us who went to the bar at 3 in the afternoon and returned covered in blood after falling flat on his face drunk and/or stoned on his way back to his/our campsite. He serenaded us with retching and vomiting all night as his afternoon of indulgence turned into our night of noise. He puked. He groaned. He gagged. Needless to say we slept little and we're all to happy to rise at 3:50, pack our gear, donn our headlamps and hit the road. He claimed to be hiking the trail, but all indications are he was playing the role of PCT hiker, although not very well.
We met our character at the convenience/deli store about 1/4 mile from the lake where the rumors of awesome sandwiches proved true. We split a turkey sandwich so thick we could not open our mouths wide enough to bite it and had to nibble around the edges to consume it. And although I am sure are appetites are enhanced, it was Awesome! He came to our table as we were finishing and introduced himself as "Mover". The dirty waist length dreadlocks were interesting, but what caught your attention was the imitation he was doing of a 50 yr old with brain cells burned out by drugs, alcohol, etc. his actions described above proved our suspicions.
So we left the campground and the 20 other PCT hikers about 4:30 am and hiked 6 miles before stopping for breakfast at Boulder Oaks Campground. We headed out again about 8:45 and began the 1500 foot climb to our next campsite in a era with trees, but no water. I lugged 8 liters of water up the 6 miles, so although it was a dry camp we had water enough for dinner. Landy, a great 34 yr old girl from Montana soon arrived along with 5 other women. A lively conversation ensued as darkness descended. We all turned in about 7:30. Our plans f tomorrow are to hike only 6 miles to a campsite and creek-a short day to let us rest and restore some energy.
T plus 3 days.