The Way to do Summer Trails

7/24/19 was my last hike for a while because of the weather. It's not a miserable sort of hot on the California coast (yet). But when you're out there hiking on exposed trails, the heat can get to you. Not to mention! There's lots of bees around in these coastal hills. Definitely not a big fan of bees. I like what they do and all, but I've been stung twice so far this summer. I try and ignore them and let them land and take off on me at will. It's when I interfere that I get stung. Anyway, I did not get stung by a bee on my last hike. But there were lots of bees. And there was a young man hiking up Mathis Trail (what a brutal hike in the heat!) who asked me to look at his back to see if he had been stung. Sure enough, there was a bee sting on his back. He didn't look too happy. And who would be -- the hike up Mathis is all uphill and entirely exposed. I, on the other hand, was hiking down Mathis in the middle of the afternoon. It was warm, but again, it wasn't a miserable sort of hot.

West Ridge Trail on the way to Mathis, Santa Ana Mountains in background:

I took my time on this hike because of the heat. I was aiming for about 6 miles, ended up with a little over 7 miles. There were a few people on the ridge. Just one other person on Mathis (the guy who got stung by a bee). And then I had all of Wood Canyon to myself. And I also had all of the climb out (Cholla Trail) to myself. It was a beautiful day. Having no time constraints made this trek utterly enjoyable. I freely stopped to take in views and cool down in the shade. That's the way to do summer trails. 

7.17 miles, 1,171' of elevation gain. From Alta Laguna Park in Laguna Beach: West Ridge / Mathis / Wood Canyon / Cholla Trail / West Ridge

The view from a hidden rock formation on Mathis Trail:

Wood Canyon:

There is where my heart is (hint: those mountains in the background. It's just too darn hot for me there right now).

Goats at Top of the World!

Even though I love wandering about on trails and even though it is pretty much my medicine, nowadays I struggle with pushing myself out the front door. For many years this was not the case. I didn't relate to discussions on how to stay motivated. I was driven to wake early and put in hard miles several days a week. Of course, times were different then. I didn't work as much first off. And I was younger and less beaten down.

July 10, I believe it was, I took a mid afternoon hike in Aliso/Wood Canyons Wilderness. I had planned on 9 or 9.5 miles. I took a detour to Dripping Cave and meandered about elsewhere. I ended up with 11.53 miles with a moderate gain (1,500+ feet). About 3 miles in, I checked my email. That was a big mistake. Some disappointing news on the job front. This of course gave a whole new meaning to my hike. Good thing I chose (coincidentally) to hike up Meadows Trail. That's a darn good suffering trail there. Believe me, there's no better remedy for suffering than to climb a tough hill, in the heat. 

My route: Wood Canyon to Meadows Trail, Top of the World, West Ridge, Cholla, Wood Canyon. It was beautiful. It was therapeutic. As I mentioned already, I visited Dripping Cave, but what I didn't mention was that right after leaving the cave, a deer bolted across my path. That was exhilerating because she was loud and forceful. And she was gone in an instant.

Wood Canyon

Meadows Trail 

So, no matter how tough things may seem, it seems that I never wish that I didn't take that hike, or I didn't take that run, or that swim, or even that gym workout. This hike, despite my mood, was the best. And then I got these! These lovely goats at the Top of the World. 😊

 Goats at Top of the World!

Painted Lady Migration

A week or so ago the Painted Lady butterflies began making their entrance into Southern California. At any given time you could have hundreds, no, thousands of butterflies fluttering about you. It has been quite amazing. Of course that's a difficult thing to actually capture in a photo. Eventually, I'll post a one of the butterfly video clips I took during my hike-run in Aliso/Woods Canyons some time ago (too much time, oh how it has gotten away from me -- much has happened in the past week which has pretty much dwarfed everything else).  

So, this post will briefly cover a 12.25 mile course with 1,657' feet of elevation gain. (3/15/19) The course: Aliso Canyon, Wood Canyon, Cholla Trail, West Ridge, Top of the World, Meadows, Wood Canyon, Aliso Canyon. The hills and the canyons were superb, so lush and green! Thousands of Painted Lady butterfies flittered and danced about, especially so in Wood Canyon. Tiny spring flowers, white, purple, yellow and orange dotted the hillsides. And wow, the skies were so blue with wisps of white clouds painted across them.

Wet and Muddy Conditions

We are having one of  our wetter rainy seasons this year. Sometimes we skip right past the rainy season with just two or three rains. And sometimes, we get a deluge for weeks and weeks. Such is the case right now. Everything is green. Everything is clean. The weather is perfectly cool, sometimes even cold. There's snow even occassionally in the local mountains, and the mountains just west of those (The San Gabriels for example) are still covered in snow. The rain is delightful (oh, except for all the driving I do freeway flying between three campuses). Creeks are full. Waterfalls fall once again. It is perfect trail season right now. PERFECT. Too bad our dang county park system has got the door closed tight on all the local trails. They're all closed due to "Wet and Muddy Conditions!"

A window opened up on the last day of February, and I got off to Wood Canyon Thurday late morning. The creeks were flowing and the skies were blue. Like I mentioned, perfect trail weather. I took the easy canyon route with two detours: 1) up to a bench that overlooks the canyon, and 2) Wood Creek Trail, a magical shady trail that crosses over Wood Creek and winds through a thick forest of trees.

Since I am behind in everything, I'll cut this short and end with the stats and pics. 

9.07 miles, 650' elevation gain. 

The Adventures of a Mentally Sensitive-Mathis Loop

Aliso Cyn – Wood Cyn – Meadows – Mentally Sensitive – Moulton Meadows Park – Aswut – Top of the World – Alta Laguna Park – West Ridge – Mathis – Wood Cyn – Aliso Cyn

I got out before Friday for some more trails this week. I don't teach Thursday mornings this semester, which means I have the day until about 5:30 pm when I need to drive off to teach a math class. That leaves a lot of time for trails. I decided to spend some of that time putting in some long miles (11) sprinkled with the steepest incline in Aliso Canyon (Mentally Sensitive Trail!). 

The meadows were green. The creek was full. And the wildlife was out in abundance. Squirrels ran across my path. A bright blue bird swooped down in front of me. A road runner flitted across my path on Mentally Sensitive. And as soon as I turned the corner on Meadows heading toward Mentally Sensitive, I spotted a a rarity step out onto the trail from the meadow at my left. I mentioned in my last post that there is a delay in identifying animals when they are coming straight at me. The otherside of that is when the animal is not coming straight at me, there's instant recognition. This was the case on Thursday. I caught a glimpse of the cat from the side and immediately idenitified Bobby! (As in Bobcat). And what a beauty he was. 

Climbing Mentally Sensitive was a chore. Definitely  took my sweet old time. Half way up, I had grown so overheated, I needed to take off my long sleeves and tie them around my waist. The struggle was absolutely wonderful. And the green valleys and Saddleback Mountain views were very pleasing to these old eyes. Soon we will have fields of spring flowers. Hopefully we'll have a few more rains to keep the creeks flowing. Wet winters are a delight in California (not so much during the actual rain because we aren't used to it, and thus a lot of times unprepared and unpracticed). But the pay off from the rain sure is great.

Some Stats:

11.01 miles

Avg. Heart Rate (rpm) 122

Max. Heart Rate 165

1,522' Elevation Gain

1,480' Elevation Loss

Highest Altitude 1,168'

Lowest Altitude 150'

Slopes:

Uphill 35%

Flat 36%

Downhill 29%

Bye-Bye Garmin

So . . . recently, I went for a hike-run in Wood Canyon, but I can’t tell you for sure what day it was (I believe it was last Wednesday 12/12). I also can’t tell you any other stat, like distance or elevation gain. Why? Because I lost my Garmin on the trail. And sadly, that Garmin had to go. My relationship with that thing was definitely a love-hate relationship. I loved the stats it gave me, and the interface was pretty good. But really, what a pain in the ass it was to charge (very difficult to make the connection), and I can’t tell you how many times I could not upload my info. I had to constantly reset the thing, and then to top it off, the wristband broke, and the stupid thing does not accommodate a replacement band. I was bound to eventually lose my Garmin carrying in my pocket as I did. I suppose the reason I lost my Garmin is because I went crawling around in caves again. I’m pretty sure that’s when it dropped out of my pocket.

So, I set out late morning, Garmin in hand for what I am going to estimate as an 8 mile route. And because of my mood, which was somewhat down, I decided to make my loop include one of the biggest inclines in the park -- steep inclines do wonders for my mood. My route: Aliso Canyon, Wood Canyon, Mathis, Oak Grove, Car Wreck Trail (super steep!), Mathis, Wood Canyon, and finally back to Aliso Canyon. I noticed my Garmin lost in Wood Canyon on the way back, and did not have any time to go back and hunt for it. I had to get back home in time to attend my middle son’s Christmas concert. And frankly, I really didn’t even want to look for it. I am done with Garmin!

Some observations from my hike-run:

First off, I saw 7 (yes seven!) deer grazing in Aliso Canyon. I have seen many deer in those canyons, but never as many as 7 all at once. They didn’t even flinch as I stood there across the field snapping photos of the bunch. They did look up at me here and there, which is much more to than humans on the trail did. Which brings me to my second observation. People in the coastal hills do not look at you when you come up on them on the trails. Nothing, not a word, not a nod, not even a smile. I find that strange. I try to make eye contact with everyone -- and then I nod or smile. This lack of acknowledgement by other hikers and runners would never happen on a mountain trail. When you come up on someone in the mountains, you are bound to stop and chat a bit with them.

Despite losing my Garmin, this hike helped immensely with dealing with my stress. The creeks were full and even rushing over their usual borders in some places.  Green grass was popping up everywhere, including in the black burnt areas. I loved the torture of Car Wreck Trail, and amazingly, it really wasn’t that much torture at all. It was a good thing climbing up that trail, just as it was a good thing that I lost my Garmin.