Hiking’s the Key to the Heat

My oldest son’s college roommate came in from northern California Friday night. They were in and out of the house all day long. It sure is nice having young ambitions in the house. Last I saw of them, they were headed off with a couple of other guys late at night. Of course, I don’t get the most ideal sleep when someone in my family is out still there in late night/early morning hours. But then again, I am usually an early(ish) to bed person. I think that everyone was still up when I went to bed Friday night.

I don’t know what time it was when I rolled over and found my husband asleep next to me. I asked, “Is Justus home yet?” He said that he didn’t have any idea. He didn’t toss and turn. He fell directly back to sleep. I suppose I was behaving rudely by waking him in the first place.

I didn’t sleep well after that. I may have slept an hour, who knows, maybe more. It was one of those nights when I couldn’t really be sure. Eventually, I found myself wide awake in my bed, and I could see through the cracks in my partially closed bedroom door that lights were still on in the rest of the house. So, I got up. It was 3:30 am. The bathroom lights (2 of them) were on. The living room lights, two fans and the television were on. The kitchen lights were on. The back door was open, and our dog, Millie, was still outside. Millie, by the way, is an indoor dog; she does not sleep outside. But there she was, laying on the back porch.

“Oh,” I thought. “The guys are in the man cave.” And so I walked through the yard out into the garage which is our “the man cave.” The door was open. It was fully lit inside and out. Inside, the fan was running, the television was on. And even more peculiar, my husband’s office (also known, as my library, which is a self-enclosed room behind “the man cave”) was fully lit also, with its sliding screen door wide-opened. The guys were not in the man cave. No one was anywhere, and my house was fully open and exposed. Fortunately, we had Millie to guard us out on the back porch. She’s a barker, and she’ll alert to us to anything -- a rat running along the telephone wires, a possum on the fence, or even a bird landing in the yard.

First thing that I did in the house was check the boys’ room. And sure enough, all four beds had a person sound asleep in it. That was great. Everyone was home safe and sound. I could sleep assured.

But I could not sleep. I was wide awake. I thought momentarily that I should just stay up and go for an early morning hike in the mountains, take advantage of the early weather. I did not do that of course. TO MY DISMAY. Nope. Instead, I tossed and turned on my living room couch for another five hours, constantly re-adjusting the fan.

FIVE hours of this (at least -- I’m only estimating now because alas, I did not take notes). When it came time to finally face the day and wake up (only my middle son had awakened -- he’s 16 years old), I was just so dang tired, I turned my face into my pillow and moped. Not sure how long I moped. I’m thinking a couple of hours.

So, I finally rose to the day. I drank a cup of coffee -- a very nice cup of coffee (with stevia leaf and heavy whipping cream). I did a few minor chores while I put together my pack. Because dang it, I really needed to get my legs moving. I needed to just meditate in the moment. And the easiest and best way I know how to do that is to start taking some steps on dirt. Lovely dirt.

I made another delicious coffee-to-go and headed out the door at about 10:00 am. After running another errand, I pulled into Aliso/Wood Canyons Wilderness Park at around 11:00 am fully prepared to pay for parking -- I was actually looking forward to paid parking, since it would mean a slightly shorter distance to the truck when whatever unspeakable thing that I was about to do was all said and done. But it was a particularly warm afternoon (this is after all, Southern California, which is relatively close to the equator in comparison to other parts of the world.)

New Growth After the Fire:

Ends up, it was hot, quite hot in the coastal hills on Saturday. The canyon (Wood Canyon) was actually quite pleasant with an occasional semi-cool breeze. This relative comfort lasted 4.5 miles. The key for me was really to not overheat. So, I took it casually, especially up that little climb called “Cholla” to to West Ridge. There were very few people outdoors in the canyon and on the ridge. No doubt, this was due to the heat. The weather though, was not terrible -- mid to upper eighties (Fahrenheit). Just a couple of weeks ago we saw triple digits.Still, it was warm enough to know that danger lurked if I did not heed to the heat.

And so I hiked in with full intent of hiking the entire “Big Loop Version1.” The ridge actually was warmer than the canyons. Usually, I find the canyons warmer due to the humidity. But today, it was the ridgeline that poured on the heat. It is fully exposed, as most ridges our in my parts, and there was little breeze. It was hot. But it was bearable. It was bearable because I hiked most of the twelve miles. And that is a sure way to control the body temperature.

In all: 12 miles, 1,392’ gain

Route: Aliso Cyn/Wood Cyn/Cholla/WestRidge/Top of the World/Meadows/Wood Cyn/Aliso Cyn