It’s been an active week for me.
Last Saturday, Scott and I got up early (actually I got up at my usual time, 5 am – Scott got up early) and we loaded the girls in the car and drove over to La Llorona Park. Last November I wrote about La Llorona Trail, you can read it here… and here.
This time, instead of doing the 3 mile jaunt from the park south to Calle del Norte, we walked north out of the park, up to where the path climbs to the top of the levy. At that point, one can turn east and walk into town. It’s 1.5 mile from the park to this point. The girls really seemed to enjoy the walk. We stopped and let them smell all the interesting odors along the way… well, not all, or we’d still be there! It was a fun time, the girls were beginning to falter on their way by the time we returned to the car. Another half mile and we’d have been carrying the little one!
We’ve had a ton of rain here. The desert has turned green, as have the mountains. We knew that the waterfall at Soledad Canyon would have some water in it, so Sunday morning, Scott and I met a friend of ours at the Soledad Canyon trail head, and hiked the mile and a half up to the waterfalls. We weren’t disappointed! Afterwards, we drove into town, to “The Corner Bakery”, where our friend was joined by his partner, and we had an enjoyable breakfast.
I really do enjoy walking. I can escape into myself on the trail, or on the path, or even on a treadmill! These periods give me time to pray, or to think about life. I’ve used them to daydream, an art that I think we as adults tend to do too little of!
Tuesday, I decided to go to the gym after work, but when I got there, realized I just didn’t want to trudge along the treadmill, so I went out to check out the dirt track that the runners use. There are two segments, one is a little under a half mile loop, the other loop is just shy of 1 mile. And there’s a way of walking both loops in a sort of lop-sided figure “8” that comes in at 1.34 miles (or thereabouts). I did the two loops… twice… on Tuesday. While it was a little hot, the storm clouds kept me from overheating.
Wednesday evening, I set out to do three times around. About a half mile into the first small loop, it sprinkled, but I decided to continue. I was nearly done with the first full figure 8, when it began raining in earnest. But as I turned to go in, the rain stopped. I did another full figure 8, and was considering starting on a third when the thunder and lightning began! Being the tallest thing in the area (except the mountains) I called it a day!
Thursday night, however, I managed three full loops, over 4 miles!
As I write this, I’m trying to decide if I want to do it again this afternoon! It’ll be hotter, and the sun a little more direct (since I get off an hour earlier today). Last night I was ready to take a day off, but by now, the thought is rather enticing!
In the past I’ve been asked to provide a link to these trails. I can provide these for the La Llorona trail. However, I can’t find this type of map for Soledad Canyon trail.
If anyone is interested in joining us for our next hike, let me know. It’ll be one rated “Easy”. And we’ll probably go next Friday or Saturday morning.
On The Road II 