It's a Jungle Out There.

I believe it was March 20 when the governor made it official and ordered a shelter-in-place for California to help slow the spread of COVID19. With off and on rain, I was eager to hit some trails the next day (3/21), and as of late, I've been able to do that with the absence of people.  I have been known to occasionally hike off trail or hike places that are closed (but not in a long, LONG time).  This situation is quite different, so believe me, I checked out the shelter-in-place order before deciding on a Saturday hike. I found from everything that was published online on this shelter-in-place that I could walk my dog, run or hike as long as I did it alone, or with someone that I lived with. (Thank goodness, because the gym was out of the question as they were all ordered closed along with all the other "non-essential" businesses).  

I wasn't so naive to think that the trails weren't going to be crowded. Every place that immediately came to mind didn't seem right. I was trying to hide; I needed to go where others would not. What I really wanted was Black Star Canyon, but I knew, because of the ample parking and the relative ease of driving there, Black Star, was going to be packed. The coastal trails in my area were all closed due to "wet and muddy conditions."  I also wasn't up for the local beaches (not with the downright bad attitude posts I'd been reading from community members -- Wow, just wow, so mean, it's a jungle out there!). Anyway, if Black Star was going to be crowded, so then were Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary and Silverado Canyon, and they have much fewer parking spots. I also wasn't up for any big drives, so Blue Jay Campgrounds and that general area of the Cleveland National Forest was off. What I finally decided on is that lovely, quaint canyon behind Caspers, called Hot Springs Canyon. There's rarely any cars in the lot. There's also a little mountain driving, not much, but enough that I thought it might curtail hikers from choosing this trail.

I was wrong.

The parking lot was more packed than I have EVER seen.

Fortunately, San Juan Trail is a long difficult trail. That means most people don't take it. And once I got started I rarely saw anyone else on the trail. There were more mountain bikers than usual -- but that's always the case on San Juan Trail; it is a mountain biker trail. I also noticed once I climbed a bit and was able to look further down the canyon, that many of the people were merely taking a stroll up Hot Springs Canyon to Lazy W -- they were not headed up San Juan Trail.

So, it was a lovely, lovely hike! Really. The skies were blue. I could see the ocean and Catalina Island. The weather was cool and crisp. What an awesome 13 mile hike. It was not perfect "social distancing". Though I could travel for miles without seeing another soul, there were times when I'd come up on a group of 5 or 6 on this single track. When we could, we all practiced "social distancing". At my turnaround point, Cocktail Rock, I met about 5 others taking in the views. We stood about in somewhat of a circle, all about 6 feet apart. One-by-one, we all took off heading back down the mountain. I took up the rear, since I was the only one on foot. Right after leaving the scenic spot, I came upon 2 other hikers making their way up the trail. And then I was completely alone for the next five or so miles. I did my regular spill toward the bottom of San Juan Trail on my return (pretty much always fall on this trail -- it's so sandy slippery). My injuries were minor: a road burn and bruise on right shin. Barely felt it.

That was March 21. It's been five days since I've hit the trails. The online screaming matches continue regarding staying at home. What a wild, wild time. I do see people out and about, taking walks and hiking. But the streets are basically empty and those who venture out are getting lambasted online. It's really not a great time to be talking about hikes and running. I have been staying home, except to venture out to the grocery store in search of eggs and paper towels. Our grocery shelves are still practically bare. So, take care out there everyone. If there's things that are really bothering you, just turn it off (now). As my 10th grade history teacher, Mr. Gallatin used to warn us at the end of just about every class -- "It's a jungle out there!"

San Juan Trail during Shelter-In-Place

Route: San Juan Trail out of Hot Springs Canyon, to Cocktail Rock just below Sugarloaf Peak.

Point to Point Hike (San Juan Trail)

It has been much too long since I last hit the trails (8/10/19). Eleven days ago to be precise. And then school happened -- my two youngest boys went back to school, and so did I. It all came like a whirlwind and I am off kilter just a bit. I am back to teaching at one of my schools, and at another beginning next week. Gosh, it all came like a fast. I still feel a little out of sorts. Summer vacation was like a race to me, a race to check things off my list. Well, the end of my summer vacation has ended, and I did get some things done. I so feared that I would not. And I was constantly critical of myself over whether I was doing enough. Well, I didn't get everything done. But I certainly did enough. And the most important things, they got a check mark. 

I'm also back to working on Old Goat races (more about that later), so my last hike was to measure San Juan Trail in it's entirety, from Blue Jay campgrounds down to Hot Springs Canyon. You can bet in the middle of the summer, the only way I was going to do this hike was to do it one way -- the downhill way. 

Early that morning (but not terribly early -- 8:30), I met a friend of mine, Jose, and his neighbor, Pedro, at Hot Springs Canyon Road. We drove into the canyon and parked Jose's car. Then the guys got in my truck and we drove to the top of the mountain and parked in Blue Jay campgrounds before setting out on San Juan Trail. The trail was beautiful with views going for miles and miles, as far as the Pacific Ocean. And can you believe it, we were the only people on them. We had some shade, especially in the first third. But after that, the trail is pretty exposed, and the weather was hot. Hot but bearable. There was a tad of uphill, but overall the 12+ mile trip was technical downhill. The fun stuff!

About five miles down, Jose realized that he had left the keys to his car in my truck. Oops. This was indeed a situation being that it was his car down at the bottom of the mountain that we were going to drive back to my truck. I was not so concerned about this. To me, this was just part of the adventure, and I enjoyed the rest of the trip without a thought to the matter. One thing for sure, I wasn't willing to hike five miles uphill back to my truck. I just trusted the guys would figure something out, and if not there was always my husband or son that I could call (if I could get a signal that is). 

Somewhere in the final switchbacks (look at that lovely pictured below!), Pedro got a cell signal and phoned a friend to meet us at the fire station on Ortega Highway and Hot Springs Canyon Road. We picked up our pace some at that point because we still had quite a ways to travel to the station. I estimate the friend who was driving out to rescue us was about twenty minutes away. We on the other hand were about 2 miles from Jose's car and another mile to the station (which means that our hike was not 12+ miles, it was 13+)

Just about the last tenth of a mile before the bottom of  San Juan Trail, I slipped in the loose dirt on a turn in the trail, and then on my fall, slipped again. I felt like the top half of my body twisted one way, while the bottom half twisted in the other direction. It was quite a jolt. I recall Pedro rushing in to help me up but I just couldn't really focus at the moment. It's like I had to take a moment to process the pain, accept it and then finally get up and get going. Once I did that, I just had to pretend and ignore the pain until I got home and could deal with it. I should point out that I was confident that my injuries were not serious, no broken bones or anything like that. At the worst, I felt I could have torn some tendons in my foot, as the twist and subsequent feeling in my foot felt very similar to the time I tore tendons in my foot on West Horsethief Trail. 

Every hike or run is an adventure, isn't it? Pedro's friend was waiting for us at the station. I drove up the mountain with him, leaving the other two behind because his truck had only two seats. I wish that I remembered his name because he is definitely worth mentioning. What a good friend he was to Pedro. He told me, and I could tell that he was uncomfortable driving up that windy mountain road. I believe he said that it had been 15 years since he had driven up Ortega. I didn't blame him. I used to be scared to death of driving to the top of the mountain (I'm still a tiny bit scared). Anyway, Pedro's friend spoke little English, and I spoke even littlier Spanish, so our communication was challenging. He had no idea what he was in for, and yet he did it with a friendly smile. He got me back safely to my truck. And we both drove back down to the fire station on Ortega Highway and Hot Springs Canyon Road to meet up with the other guys.

It really was a lovely hike. San Juan Trail is challenging, even on the downhill. I was sore for a few days after my fall. When I dress for work now, I make sure that my dress covers my knees so that the scab doesn't show. It is healing up quickly now though. And the scrapes on my arms are barely noticeable. 

All's well that ends well. 

Hot Springs Canyon 3X

I have come to conclude that it’s a good thing that the state and county parks have been closed so much lately “due to wet and muddy conditions.” I was getting so annoyed at OC Parks, but now I am fine. Really, I am fine. All these closed parks have lead me to a wonderful revisit -- a revisit to Hot Springs Canyon. And what an unexpected delight this has been.

Hot Springs Canyon is toward the bottom of the mountain off of Ortega Highway (In the Cleveland National Forest on the Orange County side). The turnoff is by the fire station and the same road that you take to LazyW Ranch. Old Goat’s Chimera (100 mi. race) has an aid station in this canyon. It’s where the runners come off a long 12 mile downhill on San Juan Trail. And then they must turn around and repeat those 12 miles back into the Blue Jay campgrounds. I have frequently travelled San Juan Trail over the past decade. But I almost always stay toward the top of the trail and go off on other junctions like Chiquito Trail and The Viejo Tie. A couple of times I have ventured up San Juan Trail from Hot Springs Canyon. Once, some years back, I ran up the trail from Hot Springs Canyon to Cocktail Rock. One thing for sure, during the summertime, San Juan Trail is a bear. It can get brutally hot, heat stroke kind of hot, if not taken seriously. It’s completely exposed until you get in pretty close to the campgrounds. So, you’ve got about 7 or 8 miles of uphill sun beating down on you if you want to make the trip on San Juan Trail from Hot Springs Canyon into Blue Jay campgrounds.

Oh, how I have digressed. My journey back to Hot Springs Canyon began at the beginning of this month -- March 1, in fact. I got a really late start because I had to pull over and make some unexpected phone calls. It may have been as late as 1 pm before I arrived to Hot Springs Canyon, the location I chose because it was semi-close and all my local trails were closed. I meandered a bit about the creek, which was clear and rushing. Then I gave myself two hours up before I needed to turn back to make sure that I’d get in before dark (we hadn’t changed the clocks yet). The weather was cool and breezy, the skies gray. Little fields of wildflowers were splattered all over the slopes. And moss and ferns were wrapped around boulders and rocks in the shady areas. Wow. This was no summertime San Juan Trail. This was beautifully cool weathered- springtime San Juan Trail. 8.10 miles on this hike; 1,713 elevation gain.

Trip number two into Hot Springs Canyon this month was unplanned. Thursday, March 7, my husband and I had planned a hike in Caspers Park to the San Juan Hot Springs (we have never been). I should have known, because Caspers is part of the county park system, that it was closed due to “wet and muddy” conditions. So, we drove a few miles and turned into Hot Springs Canyon hoping we could find a way to the hot springs from that location. Turned out that the entire perimeter of Caspers is fenced. We did find a spot to squeeze through, but being that the place was so heavily fenced and plastered with no trespassing signs, we decided to squeeze back through the barbed wire fence and did a short creek hike instead. We crossed the creek several times before reaching LazyW Ranch. We took in every cabin (as close as possible). Everything was clean and green. Some of the cabins had the creek flowing just past their front doors. What a lovely spring canyon. 4.03 miles on this hike, plus a little more walking around at the Tree of Life Nursery down the road a bit. (Wonderful nursery with all California native plants).

The very next day, Friday March 8, I got back out to Hot Springs Canyon. I had five hours. I really needed to get back to the car by 4pm so that I could bring my son to an appointment. (Just in case though, I had left directions on the kitchen counter so that my husband could bring him if I didn’t get back in time.) My goal was Cocktail Rock, which I estimated was around 6 miles away (uphill).

Well! The day was absolutely lovely with big puffy clouds and blue skies. Spring flowers were bursting all over the place. I could see down to the Pacific Ocean and for miles into the Cleveland National Forest. It really was amazing. But my time was not good. Cocktail Rock was slightly further than I expected. The weather was super cold at the rock, and the wind began to pick up. It took me slightly more than 3 hours to arrive there, and I wasn’t going to turn around and go straight back. I did recorded some video, took in the scenery. By this time though, I basically had 1 hour and 45 minutes to make the trip back, which I could conceivably do if I ran it. Funny thing was, my phone rang when I was hanging out at Cocktail Rock (did not expect any service there!). Learning that I had cell service, I gave my husband a call to let him know that he would have to take our son if I didn't make it in time. I had fun running back (as it was basically all down hill). But the trail got too technical in some parts, and being that I’m not really practiced at running this level anymore, I slowed it down during those portions.  I did not make the return trip in 1 hour 45 minutes. But I was close. It took me just a little over two hours. Total distance: 13.11 miles, 2,546’ of elevation gain. And that is why Hot Springs Canyon 3 times!