Day Two – May 26

LAKE MORENA TO MOUNT LAGUNA
21 miles (Trip Total: 41 miles)

We were hiking by 6 a.m. and the temperature was perfect. We watched a beautiful sunrise as we hiked. We passed under Interstate 8 this morning and then hiked way up the mountainside above the highway. 

We did 10 miles by 10 a.m. and then it got much harder as the day got hot. In addition to the heat, the majority of our hike today was uphill. Some guy we talked to last night referred to this section as hiking up a dragon's back. We enjoyed a two-hour afternoon nap in the shade of a big oak tree. 

The last two miles tonight were in a beautiful evergreen forest, totally different than anything we'd seen so far. We're camped in the Burnt Rancheria campground in Mount Laguna Recreation Area, at about 5,000 feet. It's busy for Memorial Day weekend. We ate chicken fried rice for dinner and were zipped up in the tent by about 8:30 p.m.