Hiking San Juan Capistrano (Plus an initial review of Amazfit Pace sports watch)

I got a new sports watch for Christmas, and I have barely said a word about it. The fact that I haven’t said much is testament to its relative ease of use. I’m still learning how to use it to its fullest capacity, but I already know that me and this watch are going to be friends. The watch is an Amazfit Pace, and it’s battery lasts for days and days. Battery life, if I have not already mentioned before, is of utmost importance to me -- perhaps the most important. And so, Amazfit Pace hit that concern right on the mark. However, I’m not accustomed to a touch screen watch, and most of the time I cannot figure out how I got to a the menu I’m currently at (the menus can run deeper than my mind wants to go!). The good thing is that I can easily start and end a hike or run without getting lost in the menus on my Amazfit. I was also able to easily sync the watch’s data to the phone app. But, I’m not thrilled with the phone app, mainly because it’s a phone app. I prefer the large screen -- I’d like a pc app (like I had with my Garmin). The best I have found so far, is having the data upload onto Strava.com.

I somehow linked my Amazfit phone app to an old Strava account that I don’t think I’ve ever used. I didn’t even know that I correctly synced the two (it’s all a guessing game with me sometimes) until I received some “kudos” from a few trail running friends.  Also, another thing about the Strava upload, and this is going to bug me for a while, the numbers between the two apps differ slightly between my Amazit phone app and the Strava pc app.

Aside from all the usual stuff that I’m used to on a sports watch (distance, mileage, elevation, pace, etc), this watch also tells me the weather forecast for a week, records my heart rate and even tracks my sleep when I wear it to bed! Yes the Amazfit Pace tells me how much of my sleep was light versus deep sleep. And it shows me graphs with the exact timing of deep sleep cycles. Who knows how accurate the sleep data is, and I’m not sure even if that information is useful to me. I could download music to the watch too and listen bluetooth (which I probably will not do -- I’m old fashioned and still pack an ipod). Bottom line, useful statistics or not,  I’m back in the business of tracking stats.

On Friday, after a week of rain, I strapped on my Amazfit and headed out for some trails. I went as local as can possible being that I didn’t get out until the afternoon, and my son had a 4:30 doctor’s appointment. Seemed like as good a time as any to get reacquainted with the town that I so love, the town that got us out here --  San Juan Capistrano. I reminisced in my Friday video how many years ago I was travelling by train with my husband-to-be and his classmates from an urban development class at Cal Poly. As the train slowed down through the hills of San Juan Capistrano, I gaped at the beauty outside of my train window. I had never been to San Juan Capistrano but knew right away I loved it and exclaimed right there in the train, “I want to live here!” Turned out, my husband’s first job out of college was in San Juan Capistrano. We moved out here in December 1988.

Trabuco Creek flows right into San Juan Capistrano. From there the creek that I so love, meets up with San Juan Creek, and they both flow out to the ocean at Doheny Beach in Dana Point. I decided to meet up with Trabuco Creek before it met San Juan Creek. I parked my truck by the horse stables just outside of the Los Rios District.

It has been a while since I have seen Trabuco Creek flowing so forcefully through San Juan Capistrano -- at least a few years. It was flowing so well on Friday, that I could not find a place to cross. My hike came to a halt where the creeks comes tumbling down the rocks beneath the train tracks. So, I took a little detour and climbed up to the tracks, ran across the bridge then made my way back to Trabuco Creek Trail through the meadows that are dotted with orange trees. After meeting back up with the trail, I turned back off again to take the bike path beneath Interstate 5. From there, I made my way fairly easily to Arroyo Trabuco Trail, just past the golf course off of Avery Parkway in Mission Viejo. My hope was to make it to the first giant overpass (Crown Valley Parkway), but my hike came to a gradual halt when my feet began sinking down into the mud. The trail became so muddy that my feet sank down to my ankles. Pulling them back out of the mud to tredge on became tiresome, and I feared that I was going to fall flat on my face. So, I made my way back from this lovely hike in San Juan Capistrano a little earlier than planned.

7.43 miles logged
3:10:48 Total time
528 ‘ feet of elevation gain
220’ average altitude
121 bpm average heart rate