CAMPO -- Finally, the day they had been waiting for.
The start of a five-month odyssey on the Pacific Crest Trail, a 2,650-mile trek from the Mexican border to Canada, began yesterday for Nancy Imbertson of Encinitas and Paul Longton of Oceanside.
The two hikers, who have been dreaming of the day for two years, logged the first of many 20-mile days to come, walking from Campo to Lake Morena.
They followed a path that wound around hillsides and dipped into an oak grove, and zigzagged up what seemed like an interminable climb.
They had been in the thick of preparation for so long -- carefully weighing every item they would carry, packing and making what seemed like endless arrangements so work and life would continue without them -- that they barely slept this week, and they were so excited.
"I can't believe it was two years ago you started planning this," said their friend, Joe Valenti, 47, of Carlsbad before they set out.
Valenti and another friend, Don Line of Carlsbad, will accompany Imbertson and Longton up to Interstate 10 near Cabazon, a hike of about 200 miles.
As they approached the Pacific Crest Trail's southern terminus, a stone's throw from the fence at the Mexican border, Longton still hadn't quite grasped that they were actually starting the adventure of a lifetime. Hours later, it was still unreal.
"It just hasn't kicked in yet," Longton, 55, said well into the day's walking. "And part of that is we've done this segment three or four times."
Longton expects that to change, he said, "once we get past people who have joined us, once we get into unfamiliar parts and get to know hikers and get to know their stories."
Each year, about 300 people attempt to "through hike" the entire length of Pacific Crest, a punishing slog through deserts and mountains that few will succeed in finishing. Today, as many as 500 people are expected to gather at Lake Morena for the Annual Day Zero Pacific Crest Trail Kickoff, where hikers share trail stories and advice and are sent off by supporters.
Yesterday, with the sun casting long shadows just after dawn, about a dozen hikers posed at the trail's starting point that many had only seen in books or on the Internet. One man recorded the moment in his journal, noting the time and the view: a wide landscape of rolling green hills and a bright-blue sky.
Imbertson, 39, picked up the trail register and jotted down a quick thought.
"Yippee! And the adventure begins," she wrote.
Then she was off, as wisps of her blond hair freed themselves from her french braid and blew back with her long powerful strides.
To be continued...
Editor's note: This is the second of an occasional series of stories following North County residents Paul Longton and Nancy Imbertson as they hike the Pacific Crest Trail.
