A lot of people head out first thing in the morning to hike, bike or run in the coastal hills. But with the weather as cool as it has been and the time change, if I’m going local, I really have no reason to get out at the crack of dawn. Saturday (March 30) I had plenty of time to wait until rush hour in the coastal hills ceased before I hit the trails. By the time I arrived to my regular stomping grounds, that is Wood Canyon, the crowds had gone home. There were a few stragglers out for an afternoon ride or stroll. Best thing was, the weather was still chilly and quite breezy too..
I could not possibly count the amount of times I’ve hiked or run Aliso and Wood Canyon Trails. Well, I suppose I could count my blog posts (but that would not include the lost MySpace posts 
plus I don’t want to do that). But I can approximate. I’ve been wandering these trails regularly for about 15 years, and to use an estimate of once per week, that would equal 52 times a year, and 52 multiplied by 15 equals 780. Now, I’ll knock of 280 just because and I come up with 500; I’ve wandered the trails in these canyons about 500 times. This is why I call Aliso/Wood Canyons my stomping grounds.
I didn’t plan where I’d hike on March 20. Nowadays, I decide as I go when I’m in my stomping grounds. On Saturday, I set off into Aliso Canyon and turned off onto Wood Canyon, and waited to see where my feet would take me. They took me to Cave Rock Trail where I stopped by my favorite caves. Then they took me to Coyote Run where I hiked up Nature Loop and took a side trail to a fine lookout over two canyons. I was about to climb down and head off to one of my secret places when I heard the voices of 3 or 4 teenage boys hiking up the trail. Perched up above them between the crevice of two giant boulders, I had a perfect view of the boys though they could not see me. Not wanting to surprise the lads last minute, I decided to answer one of the boy’s when his question to the others about where this trail led went unanswered. After that we chatted a bit. It was a fun interaction. They knew a lot of secret trails in the park, which of course they do right? I bet these trails are probably their stomping grounds too. Anyway, I told them what I knew about this trail and they switched places with me in my perch to explore more while I headed off to my secret place.
Sometime later one of the boys met up with me at my spot, and he described what they had discovered past where I had been perched up in the crevice. And then he was off again. By the time I headed off to take RockIt to West Ridge, all four of the guys were at the spot, thanking me for showing it to them. But they would have found it no doubt without me.
The interaction with these teens brought back a memory that hit me as I hiked up RockIt. It’s funny how things seemingly forgotten suddenly come to mind so many years later. This memory was a flashback to the 80s, to my old stomping grounds, an equestrian wilderness area called Walnut Creek below Frank G. Bonelli Park. I probably didn’t hang out at Walnut Creek 500 times, but this place was definitely my stomping grounds for about 5 years through my late teens and early twenties. On the day that flashed into my memory I was dragging a big leaf plastic bag behind me as I filled it with trash strewn about an area that we called Dragon Lake (due to a boulder allegedly shaped like a dragon). Up hiked these young boys, teenagers, too young to drive. They hung with me for a while and I ended up giving them a ride to a grocery store nearby. I know that sounds odd, but those were the days when people hitch-hiked. I hitched hiked. I picked up hitch-hikers. This was not a regular habit but I thumbed rides enough to have several such experiences. I’m not excusing the behavior (because it definitely seems reckless now), just explaining it. So, the boys came out of the store with bags full of candy and I gave them a ride back to the park. After I dropped them, I drove on and parked in another part of the trails so that I could get back to solitude and picking up trash. After some time, and a trash bag nearly full, I finally made it back to Dragon Lake, which I had left clean a few hours earlier. But it wasn’t so clean anymore. The place was littered with trash. Candy trash. The same candy that the boys I had driven to the store had purchased earlier. Ha! I couldn’t help but laugh but was also annoyed. I remember feeling a little deflated as I hiked around the “lake” picking up their candy trash and shoving it into my bag. Looking back, I got a good chuckle over the replay in my mind of this long forgotten experience.
After that delightful memory, I continued on my climb until I reached Mathis Trail. I took that back down into Wood Canyon trying to find evidence of a trail the boys I met earlier said they found. So engrossed in visually locating that trail (which I eventually did) I grew a little distracted and nearly stepped right out in front of a biker. When I heard him holler, I immediately jumped out of the way (embarrassed!). And then that’s when I heard my name – the guy that nearly hit me was my old trail buddy Michael! What a great surprise and an awesome way to wind down this fantastic hike. Boy do I have lots of great trail memories with Michael. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other, a few years in fact, so I was very happy to “run” into him.
I finished up this lovely spring afternoon / early evening hike at precisely 6 pm. 10 miles, 2,229’ elevation gain.
Walnut Creek, my old Stomping Grounds
(picture most likely taken between 1985 and 1987)
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