I woke at 5 am on Veterans Day, which is a federal holiday that isn’t observed by most of the population. Pretty much only government or bank employees are off work – all of the public schools, libraries, banks and the post offices are closed. This is why I always hike to celebrate Veterans Day – I am off work and am afforded the luxury to do so. I woke at 5:00 am on this Veterans Day, earlier than planned, but only 30 minutes earlier. I’ve been waking early a lot lately. I don’t even use an alarm anymore. Originally, I planned to hike in the San Gabriel Mountains with an old friend. But he texted about 5:30 saying that he woke with a sore throat. Sore throat is a bad word during this pandemic, so we decided to postpone.
Ended up that this cancellation was for the best because I didn’t know that my strength was dwindling as I neared the end of an extended fast. I hadn’t realized one bit at home that I was weak. But as soon as I tried to take on those hills I knew. I decided a US flag hike was being called for so and fortunately I picked the easiest. The easiest just so happens also to be the closest. The Las Ramblas Trails are just a few miles away from my front door which means they have views of what I call home: Dana Point, San Juan Capistrano, San Clemente and the Pacific Ocean.
The route that I planned to the flag was about 4.25 miles roundtrip. My legs felt a little wobbly at the onset, and I had to rest here and there on the hills because my breathing was not very controlled. This was not a big problem to me. I took it with stride because I can’t complain about stopping to take in the awesome views on such a day as this. I was grateful for it. What a gorgeous day it was!
Brrrrrr, it was cold!