Do more local hikes

Forgot to post here. We took Blitz to this trail last weekend. I had never done it – it was much more pleasant and interesting than its name implies. Definitely not your grandma’s nature center loop. Ha ha! Good place to walk the dog, though a little hot for him in the sun.

We took a short easy hike up Stonewall Peak today – which made for a great excuse to stop in Julian for pie!

S and I hiked at Elfin Forest today. It was really nice to get away from the trip preparations and just do something normal as though I were not getting married in 9 days. It was hot, but not too unreasonable like some places around here in the summer. Nice uphill climb to a view of the reservoir, which was very blue. I had my packed filled up almost as it will be for the trip. Found it very comfortable to carry in spite of being loaded up considerably, so I’m feeling pretty good about the hiking on the honeymoon even though I haven’t used the pack as much as I’d like. The boots felt great too. Looking forward to a hike in the woods and with cooler weather on the honeymoon. :)

I went up Cowles on my own today with my full gear (loaded pack & boots). Cowles is such a weird hike – about 3 miles round trip but nearly 1000’ elevation gain and near residential communities, it is a very busy trail and draws a lot of different folks. Today I saw all the usual: nearly naked and extremely buff college students running up and down for their workouts, hikers from all walks of life and all degrees of fitness wearing everything from trendy sports clothing to jeans to full skin coverage as per Islam. Some had only a water bottle, some had babies strapped on, and several (like me) had full hiking packs in training for a trip. There was every shape and size of canine companion. But the weirdest thing I saw was two groups of blindfolded Asian kids holding hands, each being led by one kid without a blindfold and accompanied by a couple of adults… clearly some kind of camp teambuilding exercise.

It took me a while to get the pack adjusted to appropriate fit with weight. It was only a fraction of the weight it will be on the trip, but I did throw the whole tent and my sleeping bag in there, as well as some clothes and several bottles of water, so it was enough weight to get a feel for the pack. The trail is a lot of up and down hill, which is hard with weight. The boots felt fantastic. I couldn’t even tell they were new.

Hiked part of the Kelly Ditch Trail from William Heise County Park. We were going to continue on the trail beyond the park boundary, but it is no longer maintained and at this time of year was too overgrown to make it worthwhile. In the end, we were glad we didn’t go further because it was quite strenuous in the heat with all the hill climbing. It turned out to be a nice hike, and we came back via part of the Cedar Trail and enjoyed some brief time in the shady woods. Also, it is always nice hiking near Julian because you can stop for pie afterwards. Just saying. :)

another hike up Cowles last week.

but hiking nonetheless. Went up Cowles Mountain again this afternoon.

more local hikes. I got C a book about this for Christmas – one of those presents with selfish motivations. Ha ha!

Today I went up Cowles Mountain with a friend. It was hot and a good uphill hike, good exercise, but very crowded. It’s easy to get to and a very popular trail. We were lucky to have gorgeous weather and a clear view from the top.

Was dumb and didn’t take pictures, but here’s one from Flickr Creative Commons:
^{Credit: Nick Chill}

Today was much clearer, though, so an even better view.