Hiking the PCT: Hike #2 Lake Morena to Cibbets Flat

Hike #2 Lake Morena to Cibbets Flat

10:01 PM Posted by Mrs. Silcock's

Hike = 13.4 Miles

The Hike

This portion of the hike goes from Lake Morena to Cibbets Flat Campground. The PCT Day Hike book suggests going north to south due to the elevation gain the opposite way, so that is what we did. Plus we were still getting into shape. The hike starts off with a steep climb out of Cibbets Flat Campground in order to get to the PCT, but once you reach the PCT it travels nicely along side of a hill for a few miles. The trail slowly descends into a nice flat valley, which makes for a very enjoyable and easy hike. Right about the halfway point of this hike there is a great picnic area to stop and eat lunch. It has plenty of picnic benches, outhouses, and trees to sit under.

Challenges

There is one part of this hike, when going in this direction that can be tricky. There is an area that you begin walking through a wash and loose site of the trail. At the same time you will be walking underneath a bridge with the highway above you. It is at that part of the hike that you need to look up and off to the left towards a hill. My group didn’t realize this and missed the trail. We continued walking down the wash for a mile or two before we realized we should be up on the top of the hill next to us. No big deal! We decided that we would continue walking until we met up with the trail again ahead of us. It was taking a chance that we would find it, but thank God we did. It actually ended up making the hike a little easier than it would have been.

Where to stay

There are two places you could stay at for this hike, Lake Morena Campground or Cibbets Flat Campground. We stayed at Lake Morena again for this one, but this time we stayed in my motor home. The facilities in this area were much nicer than the cabin area (portable potties). You can also stay at Cibbets Flat, which has plenty of campsites, but you will also have to rely on outhouse like restrooms. We only parked there, but it looked nice and had a small stream running through it.

Where to park

If you are starting the hike from the Lake Morena side, there is a nice little parking area right outside the campground where the hike comes out onto the road. It is free and there is no pass needed. To park in the Cibbets Flat area, you have two options. There is a small amount of paring space just outside of the campground, but we would suggest you park inside the campground. There are actual spaces to park in and more people around if you worry about getting broken into.