Movement

May 27, 2020, it was Thursday last week that I set out pretty late in the morning for local trails once again. FINALLY. What a glorious day for a person stricken with wanderlust. The Shelter-in-Place has certainly accentuated something that I already knew. And that is: “getting out” is important. I like movement. I like scenery passing by and ground moving beneath my feet. I’ve often called it my medicine, but it’s also sort of an addiction.

There are some people who are “home bodies” and I know and love many of them. My father is a home body – he is perfectly content staying home most of the time. My husband too is a home body, and so are many other people that I know. That’s not to say that they don’t like to get out and travel – they do. But home bodies like to spend most of their time at home.  I am not a home body. Don’t get me wrong.  I love to be home. I enjoy being home. But overall, I am more content planning for an adventure (a mild adventure, nothing too wild!). What it really comes down to though is movement, on putting miles beneath my feet.

So, on Thursday, I tied a face mask on my pack and paid $3 to park at the Aliso/Woods Cyns parking lot. The crowds have thinned out now that restrictions have been lifted. I barely saw a dozen people the entire trip. It was a warm day and a tough hike for me. I wasn’t quite up for 10+ miles, but I gleefully did it and enjoyed the muscle fatigue the next day.

All this time away from the trails and I did not miss all the spring flowers. There’s still flowers throughout the canyons as we come closer to summer. I recall we got lots of rain at the beginning of Shelter-in-Place. In fact, it was pouring rain on the last day I worked on campus. Anyway, I digress. It was a gorgeous spring day in Aliso Viejo and Laguna Beach, California last Thursday (thanks to all that rain in March, April and even May!)

Cave Rock

Aliso Cyn – Wood Cyn – Cholla Trail – West Ridge – Mathis – Wood Cyn – Cave Rock – Wood Cyn – Aliso Cyn

10.64 miles, 1,209’ elevation gain