No Detours (right!)

6/19/21, two days before the solstice,  I drove off to Wood Canyon in Aliso Viejo for a bit  of exercise (about a 20 minute drive). I warned myself beforehand – just keep moving, no stopping, no meandering. As soon as I told myself that, I no longer wanted to go. I had to force myself out the door because I really need the exercise. My physical fitness level has deteriorated quite a bit in just a short while. It’s not as if I’m sitting around doing nothing. I don’t have time for that. There’s so much going on that needs to settle before I can get physically fit again. Until then, I’ll do what I can, and not dilly-dally about the course.

Though I warned myself on Saturday not to meander, somewhere along Coyote Run I noticed a giant boulder up above the trail. I couldn’t resist. I bushwhacked slightly off trail and then up the side of the boulder to take a seat up above the trail out of everyone’s sight.

What can I say? I love secret places!

Not wanting to get caught off-trail, I listened for voices before finally heading off the boulder. Then wouldn’t you know, just about twenty feet before reaching the trail, I noticed a ranger walking up with a drill in his hand. I froze on the spot, which was slightly higher than the trail. I just stood there and watched him pass, hoping that maybe he wouldn’t notice. And then, just about even with me the ranger did notice me standing off-trail in the brush. Startled, he smiled and said, “Oh Hi!”  I returned the greeting and he continued on his way without another word. 

That was my only detour. I continued onward in Wood Canyon until the end where I turned around and headed back.

About 7.5 miles covered in all. The next day, my legs ached a some. It’s been a while since I’ve felt that!

On My Rock Above the Trail: 

Lunch Hike

I took a lackadaisical lunch hike on Wednesday (June 9). Lackadaisical, because I feel like I need to ease into things. Spring time’s still in the hills (though the tall grass is now brown). And I have fallen out of shape. It’s so hard to get an even balance with mental and physical health. Just when I feel like I’m zoning in on the mental health, (which really is just spiritual health to me), then I start slipping on the physical health. Suspiciously, at the top of my physical health (in my adult years anyway, but probably in my youth as well), that’s where I saw a saw a big decline in my mental health.  Hmmmm. So off into the hills I go anyway, because that’s what I do. But nowadays it’s not just for physical health.

Look, it’s still spring!Wood Creek:

I hiked into one of my secret spots and took a seat up on a cliff. It was a weekday, as expected, the trails were practically empty. Yes, cars were parked in the lot. Some people lingered about at the ranger station. Plenty of people rode or hiked and/or ran up Aliso Canyon. By plenty I mean less than a dozen. But I lost everyone somewhere around Wood Canyon while making my way to a awesome spot that I notice in the distance and wonder how many others see. There’s only 3 places that I know where you can see this spot, and of course there’s a trail to it, so other’s know about it (I just never see them). Let’s just says it’s the road less travelled.

Here at my spot (@ the 3.5 mile mark) I ate my first meal of the day – a tuna sandwich (with provolone cheese, black olives, green pepper, red onion, & dill pickle). I wasn’t really feeling the sandwich and smashed half back into my pack to throw away later. I wasn’t really there for the lunch though. I was there for the company.  If I could upload my “smart watch” I could report how long I spent in the spot (and also my heart rate and elevation). My watch hasn’t figured out yet that I’m in Pacific Standard Time. A few weeks passed before it finally updated that I passed through Central Standard Time. And CST it has remained. This of course seems to be related to,  or at least coincides with the fact that I can’t upload to the app at the moment. I’m guessing that one hour passed sitting in this lovely spot.

Time doesn’t really matter here on this particular day – I felt I had all the time in the world and wasn’t rushed in the least:  

Total miles on this lunch hike: 7(ish)

Moulton Meadows Loop

May 23 I finally got in some trails. (And I haven’t been out since.) With a lunch in my pack, I headed out early afternoon for a little known park in Laguna Beach named Moulton Meadows. From there, I caught Mentally Sensitive Trail into Aliso Canyon for some cave hopping in Wood Canyon. And I took my sweet time going about it.

I scraped up my legs a bit hopping around on the rocks. And the wind kicked in for some lovely times on the cliffs. In all, the Moulton Meadows loop covered about 9.5 miles. I still haven’t got the data off my “smart” watch for the stats that I so enjoy. For weeks it still read Eastern Standard Time.

Much needed medicine but too far in between.

RockIt:

The Headlands

Two huge things happened in my life during this pandemic, and neither of them have anything to do with the pandemic. But if it wasn’t for the pandemic, I would have been able to deal with these two huge things in the way that I was able (and I thank God for that).

Because of the pandemic I found myself teaching remotely. Therefore, I was able to live in the hospital for ten days when my youngest son became critically ill last summer (God Bless Miller Children's Hospital!) And then there’s the after-hospital stuff that I am able to manage because of the great flexibility that comes with teaching remotely. In addition to this, my oldest son, who studied in Washington, DC his last semester in college, decided to make a go at it out there. And so, I spent another 10 days away from home, visiting him in his new home (oh the joy! seriously, one of my greatest seasons!), which would have not been possible without the pandemic.

Wow. I just don’t know what to say about this. I’m a little awestruck. This is not to say that working remotely has run smoothly. Nope. Can’t say that. I was extremely behind in my prep when I returned from the East Coast – heck, who am I fooling? I wasn’t only behind in my prep. I was behind in EVERYTHING. I was behind in getting my taxes filed (alas, I made it by the extended deadline!), I was behind in my reading, in my emails, and I was behind in my writing (I’m also taking a creative writing class taught by long time friend and college professor of my Freshman Comp class way back when, and it’s been a couple weeks since I’ve submitted – also btw, this enriching class  wouldn’t have been possible without the pandemic.)

I am certainly not grateful for the pandemic – my God, what I’ve seen in the past year I would have never predicted in my youth. I am really just grateful that during this pandemic I was given so much grace.

While, I’ve been scrambling to catch up on everything, I did get in two quick hikes in my hometown, in an area that we call The Headlands. I’ve been hiking the Headlands since I first relocated from LA county (Covina) in 1988. We discovered it pretty quickly, the beach bums that we were in our 1 bedroom apartment across the street from the Pacific Ocean. The Headlands is an area in between the Dana Point Harbor/Marine Institute and Dana Strands beach.

On the first of my two hikes since returning from the other coast, I took my youngest son hiking – the one who was dropping ten pounds a month and couldn’t move without pain last summer – and showed him one of my favorite secret places in town, which of course is in that little spot called The Headlands. What makes this hike so terrific, is that you must wade through the ocean to complete it. If you make a loop of it, you only wade through the ocean once. An out-and-back of course means two times into the ocean. Now, wading through the ocean could mean knee deep or or could mean thigh deep. Any higher, I would advise against the hike. On this day, my youngest and I made a loop back to my truck parked at the Marine Institute, totaling about 4 miles.  (Since then he’s gone back often, returning home with details of the area that I’ve never noticed. Now, I’ve got to plant the seed about seeking God’s face in the secret place . . . in time, because right now he’s going to laugh in my face. .)

But how can he deny the existence of God with scenes like this?
First of 2 hikes. 4 mile loop around The Headlands
(Around April 20, can’t be sure of date, because I’m still out-of-sorts)

At a about .75 of a mile, the trail ends, and you must make a sharp right turn and walk through this cave:

And when you come out on the other end of the above cave, you are here, which is the area we must wade through to get to the other side. Timing is key. I like to wade out to a large boulder, stand on it so that I feel grounded, and wait until the tide goes out. That’s when I drop down into the water and make haste around the corner where I can stumble upon the boulders back up to dry land. Sometimes, but not on this particular hike, the waves rush in sooner than I can get to dry land. I’ve done it so many times since 1988 that I know to find solid ground and brace myself (preferably with some arm strength up against the cliff wall) and wait until the waves rush back out before continuing on:

This is the area that most casual day trippers don’t get to because of the “wading” I described above:

Hike 2 around the Headlands (out and back, approx. 2.5 miles)
Mother’s Day 2021

Soon after returning back from the East Coast, my oldest flew to the West Coast to walk his graduation ceremony. One of the things he did on his short trip here was take a hike around The Headlands with his youngest brother, his father, and his mother (me) on Mother’s Day. Yes, we raised our three boys in a beach cottage (which means a tiny home) but as a consolation prize, this was out our front door -- even on a cloudy, eerie looking day, it’s awesome:

Yes, I am behind on pretty much everything. But I feel more peace than I have in a long time.