For many years I used to run what I now call The Big Loop at Aliso/Woods Canyons. At the time, it was the biggest loop I could make using marked trails in the park. It is a lollipop loop actually, going up Cholla and down Meadows to close up the loop (or vice-versa). The stick of the lollipop is about 1.5 miles. I call it version one of The Big Loop, because the park eventually opened up another trail to make even a bigger loop, this adding The Big Loop V. 2 to my repetoire. That new trail (not new anymore) is Mentally Sensitive. I believe that Mentally Sensitive is the steepest trail overall in the park (parts of Car Wreck Trail are probably steeper). Gosh, it’s been probably 8 years since added Mentally Sensitive to the big loop collection. Friday, October 5, I decided to take it on once again for my Friday Hike Video.
What a day! The loop took about an hour and a half longer than I intended. There was just too much to see. With five detours and a wonderful show put on by a coyote tossing around a gopher (13:14 in the video clips, I came in at six hours! Six. Hours.
I really needed that. Times have been a little tough (not terrible) – but not tough enough to get my butt out on the trails for some rigorous miles on my day off from work.
Total miles: 13.37, Elevation gain: 1,581’
The route: Aliso Cyn/Wood Cyn/Cave Rock/Wood Cyn/Cholla/West Ridge/Top of the World/Mentally Sensitive/Meadows/Wood Cyn/Aliso Cyn
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