4th of July During a Pandemic in a Beach Resort Town

For a while, things opened up in California. I am still working online. But restaurants opened (with limited seated and masks regulations) so we were able to get in a celebration dinner for our high school senior who just graduated. Churches opened back up, as did bars (again, both with significantly reduced capacity). Gyms opened back up, with heavy restrictions on capacity and operating hours.

But then there was a spike in cases. I don’t know if there was a spike in deaths because now the highly publicized data focuses on positive cases, not number of deaths, which is what was highly publicized previously – ANYWAY, numbers are up in one way or another, and as such, there was seemingly great fear among lawmakers that we could see a big increase in number of cases (or number of deaths) resulting from of 4th of July celebrations. AND therefore, the governor of California increased restrictions due to COVID19, which included closing indoor bars, banning singing in churches and most relevant in my life, closing down California beaches for the 4th of July weekend. Well, he didn’t actually close the beaches. He closed the parking lots of the beaches. As a result, the beaches were practically empty this 4th of July, 2020. Never before have I seen this. Usually, tourists fill up our town on this weekend. The streets, stores and beaches are usually packed. Yes, there were people on the beaches this year – some people found places to park in the neighborhoods. Others, like myself and my husband took a stroll down to the seaside to take in the lovey Pacific Ocean. In comparison to prior years, the beaches were empty.

I am thankful that the governor decided to only close the lots so that we could take in these views (total mileage, about 4 – I forgot my watch again!):  

 

 

Free Association (The Rock)

Got out for another evening hike on the first of July, 2020. It’s summer now, so if I can’t wake at the crack of dawn to hit the dirt early, it’s best to go ahead and get some work done and head out in the afternoon to take in those cooler evening hours.

July 1st, it was a repeat of The Big Loop @ Aliso/Woods Canyons (of course it was!). I took it counter-clockwise, as I do lately. That meant taking a gradual climb through the canyon. It was hot, but mainly due to the mugginess. And it was beautiful with lots of shade and flower color dotting the trail. The word that describes it best is “tranquil”.

There weren’t many people out at all. It was one of our warmer days, and not to mention just a few days out from a holiday weekend (the 4th of July!).

I kind of just mindlessly meandered through Wood Canyon, often carrying a mental load, then in the next second tossing it aside. I sometimes liken hiking through the wilderness to Sigmund Freud’s (the “father of psychoanalysis”) process of “Free Association”.  With this process there is no linear thought pattern, you just go and see it were it leads you.

So, there I was, just Free Associating away in Wood Canyon and that lead me to the rock. I just caught a glimpse of it – it’s over past Lynx Trail, off to the left, kind of rising up from the trail. How many times have I passed by that rock? I cannot tell you (I’ve been roaming Wood Canyon for more than a decade, about 13 years, so the answer is in the three digits). One time I walked past it with my three boys when they were all pretty young. We took a hike on Wood Creek Trail that day and we stopped at that rock on the way where my husband snapped a picture of us. This is the picture that flashed before my eyes walking through Wood Canyon on July 1st, 2020:

This memory took my breath away. I had to stop and climb to the top of this rock. And there I sat behind my dark sunglasses and sobbed for a while. I sobbed because it hit me with that memory that their childhood is finished. It is over and it went way too fast. The rest of the hike was quite mournful because of that. I would Free Associate out of my mournful state only to find myself there once again.

After the canyon, I had some good climbing to do and that is always a good thing when I am troubled. I caught the tail end of a rattler on West Ridge and awesome views of the Pacific Ocean before descending down Meadows Trail back into Aliso Canyon. I finished up when the sun was beginning to set on the horizon and the weather was oh so cool. The lighting was beautiful, dark in the shade, and vibrant out in the sun..

Another wonderful summer evening hike in the coastal hills Free Associating ~

 

Warner Springs

Saturday, June 27, I got the pleasure of driving my youngest son out to Warner Springs, California (about 95 miles southeast of Dana Point) for a sleepover at his friend’s house for his 15th birthday. His friend lives out on a ranch there with his parents, friends of ours since the two boys met in kindergarten (10+ years ago!). Warner Springs is a lovely area approximately 40 minutes out of Temecula, the last town on the way out. After Temecula it’s beautiful windy roads through mountainous terrain that’s dotted with giant boulders and Oak trees. There’s of course, plenty of trails, in and out of private, national forest and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) lands.

So, first things first, we got the weekend off to a fine evening with the nice cooling weather and a delightful hike (they know how to treat us right!). Views go on for miles up there. While I did think to bring my trail shoes on this trip, I didn’t think to bring my sports watch to measure this hike. I’m guessing it was between two and three miles, a perfect way to wind down the evening after a long drive. 

Me & My Youngest BoyBack on the Ranch

Evening Time is Best

Friday, June 26, I headed out for another evening hike. I am really liking the long evening hike thing. Instead of ending my hike with warm (or hot)  weather, with the evening hike, I start the hike with warm weather to end with deliciously cool weather. And the wilderness is so much more active in the evening. Little critters, squirrels and rabbits scurry about the trail. And deer come out to feed on the meadow grass. Perhaps the best thing is the sky’s colors changing before my eyes. They start off light blue (if I’m lucky), turn to pink, then orange, then dark purple or midnight blue if I’m out late enough. 

On Friday I took Aliso Canyon into Wood Canyon as usual. My first change-up to the usual routine was to take a detour to Dripping Cave. It was a nice reprieve from the afternoon heat (it was probably about 3:30 pm by then). I have always enjoyed the cave and being that practically no one hikes at 3:30 in the afternoon during the summertime, I was able to bask in the cave’s coolness absolutely alone. I spent  good amount of time sitting around here. A perfect place for some solitude.

Dripping Cave (AKA: Robber’s Cave)

After Dripping Cave, I lackadaisically made my way up Wood Canyon, keeping on my usual route for The Big Loop. Wood Creek was still flowing pretty well. There were 2 more places that I crossed over after leaving Dripping Cave.  I didn’t come upon very many people, only a couple of bikers. And I came upon these 3 deer in one of the meadows along the way.

I continued on with my usual route, up Cholla Trail to West Ridge. From West Ridge I had a nice view of The Saddleback Mountains and a cool breeze. It was probably coming up on 5 pm by now, a glorious time to be on the trails. So lovely were the trails that I decided to change it up again and not leave the park at Top of The World. Instead, I headed down Rock-It Trail. From there I took Coyote Run for a magical hike through an enchanted forested fairyland. Finally, Coyote Run dumped me out at Mathis, where I crossed Wood Creek once more to close up the loop of this Cholla/Rock-It lollipop loop.I came in around 7pm, well before the dark purple skies.

Saddleback Mountains from West Ridge

Rock-It

Coyote Run Trail

11.2 miles, 1,044’ elevation gain 

Santiago Truck Trail in the Summertime

Wednesday, June 24, I got out for a hike with my middle son who is heading off to college in late August. Great times for me right now getting to hike with my boy. We took this hike along Santiago Truck Trail out the the flags and back darn near the hottest time of the day. Our feet hit dirt after 11 am and we didn’t get back to the truck until about 2:30 pm. Fortunately, the temperatures didn’t climb too high (low 80s Fahrenheit).

It’s still lovely here in the Santa Ana Mountains, still even looks like spring a bit.