Monday 31 July 2006 - Trek Begins - LA to Colorado River Early start to meet the group at Hacienda. Tour Leader - Thu Tam (Tim Tam, Yosemite, Taupo as she was soon to be called.... the list goes on!) Lou & Rich (Cardiff) Jonny, Tim, Natalie, Rachael, Ben, Vicky (Southerners!) Alex (Canada) Korean Couple (Korea) Loaded the van & U-Haul (trailer) and off we went. Before making our way to Colorado River went for some Hollywood sight seeing; Julia Roberts Pretty Woman Hotel; Bel Air (our scummy van wasn't allowed in); Rodeo Drive (Beverley Hills 90210); Hollywood Sign; Hollywood Bowl and Hollywood Boulevard. Quick stop for lunch just past Palm Springs (croissants, raw broccolli and raw carrots, houmus and crab paste - hoping this got better!) Made it to Colorado River and set up camp. Some beady eyes (mentioning no names) saw signs for Happy Hour - due to finish in 30 minutes. Willing the welcome meeting to finish (rostas, safety, rules... blah blah blah!) 4 of us made it with 10 minutes to spare. Nice to see the Welsh were on the same wavelength as the Northerners! Got summoned for a dinner of burgers then continued the night with a few beers by the camp 'lamp'! Got warned about our tents being set up on automatic sprinklers but after the beer had set in the group decision seemed to be 'sod it!'. Thought we'd got away with it once midnight had passed, no such luck! The tent getting a battering from the sprinklers sent Rita jumping on top of Ellie at 4.15am!.... Our first night camping....