A Return to Morena Butte

With the Glorious Holy Shit! 
The glorious holy shit made it to Morena Butte! To access the Morena Butte trail, we had to go a mile through the PCT. Nineteen miles away is the PCT Southern Terminus and more than twenty-six hundred miles away on the other direction is the PCT Northern Terminus. It was at the same PCT section that I encountered my very first PCT marker three years ago. Today, I returned with the glorious holy shit with my usual snail mail more marked than it was. 
The above photo was taken October 21, 2012. 
I returned to Morena Butte to look for my very first PCT marker. I sure missed it. But should I go back again in the future, I am sure I won't miss the trail to get to Morena Butte.

I remember Nathan saying something about ducks. I learned later that calling cairns as ducks are the American way to goobledegook the English language. 
Hema brought Christmas tinsels to put on bushes to help us find our way back.
What a grand idea!
Ranger Dale put on an act. The previous rains helped. Ranger Dale who actually works as a ranger at the open space preserve often had to talk about giardiasis to to groups of visitors to the preserve. 
There are countless rewards in climbing elevations. The Morena Butte offers a three hundred sixty degree view of what's in the horizon. 
I still couldn't figure out whether the inscription on the plaque is a poem or an obituary. For all that stand upon this peak....was the author referring to objects who stand on the peak? We climbed the boulder where the plague was imbedded and we didn't stand, united we may have looked.
Such an interesting group photo. Three years ago, I did the same pose by myself. From left to right is Wanda, Leda, Brenda, Ranger Dale, the glorious holy shit, Byron and Patron. Leda is originally from Brazil and Patron was born in Mexico. Photo was taken by Hema, originally from India. Such a perfect American group photo! 
We took the loop and I took this photo on our way back to the parking lot.  I didn't see this marker three years ago.
The monument has a plaque that depicts John P. Squibob. John P. Squibob was the pseudonym of George Horatio Derby, a West Point graduate from Massachusetts who came to San Diego in 1853 to develop a plan to redirect the San Diego River  from the marshy delta of San Diego Bay and direct it to Pacific Ocean. Derby aka John P. Squibob was a cartoon humorist on the side and the caricature on the upper left portion of the plaque is probably his. The plaque tells about Charles M. Hatfield, the rainmaker. John P. Squibob is a pseudonym but Charles M. Hatfield was not a fictional character. It does seem to me though that Squibob was the storyteller. The story goes:

"Charles M. Hatfield agreed with the San Diego city council members after a four year drought to 'make it rain'sufficiently to fill Lake Morena reservoir for $10,000.00. His 'rain enhancing' tower and pans were erected south of this monument. Hatfield and brother Paul worked deligently burning chemicals into the sky. Suddenly, it began to rain, dumping 35 inches in one month in San Diego. Two rainstorms in January 1916 caused great devastation destroying Sweetwater Dam Spillway, bursting Otay Dam, wiping out Otay Valley and Mission Valley, isolating San Diego and killing 14 persons. Hatfield hurriedly left town and was never paid by the city for his services . Charles and Paul went on to enhance moisture around the world."


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