Veterans Day Hike 2020

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!

Earthy Colors

Behind (as usual) in life. Heat is rising in Southern California, so I’m staying in close to the ocean as my way of coping with it. July 6, I managed to get out pretty late in the afternoon and took a rather lazy hike in Wood Canyon (Aliso Viejo, CA) with some lovely, hot-weathered detours.

Did I say that it was hot?

Anyway, I decided to try out a pair of men’s New Balance trail shoes that I picked up at the San Clemente Outlets on this particular hike since I’d only be out for a few hours. New Balance is my brand, has been for about twenty years and the tread on my current pair is running thin. I decided to give this men’s style a try because I really liked the green earthy colors and they were only thirty dollars, which is quite a steal for trail shoes. Often, the female trail shoes have colors that are too flashy for me.

So into Wood Canyon I lazily made my way and first thing I really noticed was how high the shoe rides up on my ankle. It felt odd, and I’m not sure that I like it. I definitely don’t hate it – it’s not a deal breaker, but I’m thinking these aren’t going to be one of my favorite pairs of shoes. In all though, they weren’t terribly uncomfortable. And I do believe that this is the second time that I learned that I don’t like the cut of men’s trail shoes. I caught glimpses of memories of another pair of men’s trail shoes that I bought many, many years ago (again because of the earthy colors!) as I hiked along Wood Canyon that day.

I got in about 7 and 1/2 miles on July 6, with not much elevation gain (<1k), but it was lovely. I took in some shady detours, the first one being 5 Oaks (which I rarely take, but I wanted to take a look at the newly built bridges and trail reinforcements). On the return, I detoured onto the lonesome Coyote Run Trail and and the spooky Wood Creek Trail that is almost completely covered in forest. The hike of course ended with cool summer ocean breezes which made taking off in the afternoon so worth it!

The Canopy of Wood Canyon

  Along 5 Oaks TrailCoyote Run Trail

The Bridge Over Wood Creek to Wood Creek Trail

Car Wreck/Rock-It Loop

March 19 (Thursday) Social Distancing was the talk of the town, but there was still no official shelter-in-place order. I had been converting all my classes to online and learning the software that I would be recording my lectures (Zoom). And so when we had another break in the rain, I was eager to take a break from work and headed on off to Aliso Canyon where the fields were green, but the skies were gray. The parking lot at the ranger station was closed but there was plenty of room to park on the street and in the church parking lot across the street. There were other cars parked about with hikers and mountain bikers -- I'd say 20 to 30. But this wilderness park is about 4500 acres. So if each of those cars had 2 people each, that'd be 60 people in a 4500 acre area, which of course means you stand a good chance of not seeing a single other person there.

The park itself was open, I confirmed by talking with a ranger. And then minutes later, as I was headed out toward Aliso Creek Trail, the rain began to fall. I hurried beneath the structure that houses a piece of historic farm equipment, hoping to wait it out. It was cold windy wind, so I took a gamble and headed off into the native plant garden to a couple of benches that I recalled beneath some trees that overlooked Aliso Creek. What I didn't remember was that those trees were deciduous, which means the benches were completely exposed this time of year (no leaves!). By the time I made it back to my truck in the church parking lot, I was pretty drenched. Fortunately, I was wearing a pair of quick-dry hiking shorts, and I had a dry beanie waiting to replace the drenched one upon my head.

I checked my weather app to see that this storm would be passing and leaving a wide area open for slight rain, or no rain at all. And I just sat there for a while in my truck, taking in the few people here and there scurrying into their cars. Twenty to thirty cars may seem like a lot for this pre-shelter-in-place "Social Distancing" phase we were in. But it's really not for this park on a spring day (and spring break for many), you could easily see 5 times as many people. I finally felt dry enough to venture out of the truck. It was about 11:30 am. I was still on spring break, and the next week, more after that, I was working from home, so I had time to get in a hike, and so grateful I was for that. The dark rain clouds at last parted and Aliso Canyon looked like this:

Aliso Creek was roaring

In Wood Canyon, about to cross over Wood Creek

Because I set out so late on this hike/run (but mainly hike), I decided against the Big Loop or any version thereof. Instead, I decided to head up Wood Canyon, turn off on Mathis, then before the big climb up Mathis, turn off onto Oak Grove Trail. This lovely green and wooded trail leads to a land of fairies and magical spells, a wrecked car from long ago (now destroyed from vandals) and a magnificently steep trail that climbs back up to Mathis (near West Ridge). I don't often find myself on Car Wreck, as it is quite difficult going up. But on this particular day, that kind of uphill climbing was just what I needed.

Kickin' Back on this Bizarrely Placed Bench on Oak Grove Trail

 

Car Wreck Trail

A tiny bit of rain came down on Car Wreck Trail. And surprisingly, I met up with two separate groups of people, each consisting with about 4 people (I think the first group had 5). That's quite unusual. As empty as this park was, I would have figured that one of the most remote trails (like Car Wreck) would have had no people sightings. I did some live video going up Car Wreck (it really is that fun of a trail!). And then at Mathis and West Ridge, I found the trails desolate once again.

I elected to head back via Rock-It and Coyote Run Trails. I saw a couple of people off in the distance on RockIt Trail. I don't recall any others. The park was pretty desolate. 4,500 acres is a lot of land. What a beautiful day it was!

Rock-It

Altered Version of The Big Loop @ Aliso

These pictures are from so long ago that I barely remember the hike. I don't know anything from digital data because for some reason my data was not saved! Interesting. This is at least the third time that I neglected to save my data on my Amazfit watch. And that's really odd to me because I always press "save.". So, there may be a gliche in this sports watch. But I posted live video on Facebook, so from that I know that the date of my last hike was August 22, and the final mileage was around eleven miles (which was 2 more miles than I planned -- it's starting to come back to me now). I also remember really forcing myself out the front door of my home. I didn't want to go. But I knew that I needed it. I started in Moulton Meadows Park, a city park in Laguna Beach. From there I took Meadows down into Aliso Canyon, then made my way over to Wood Canyon. I was a good mile in (was on Meadows by then) before I was glad that I forced it. And the rest of the hike, though it was quite warm, was good medicine. Very good medicine, as usual. At the end of Wood Canyon, I climbed Cholla to West Ridge and made my way along the ridge until I eventually was back at my truck in Moulton Meadows.

I may have already mentioned that I am back to work. I have also recently learned that Old Goat races are back on this year. Things are hectic and last minute, but I'll have more news when the permits and sanctions are approved. Until then, here are some of my favorite pictures from a slightly altered version of The Big Loop at Aliso/Woods Canyons. 

 

 

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.