Sunday, September 29, 2013

Mt. Laguna PCT 10 Miler

I went up to Mt. Laguna this weekend and hiked 10 miles on the PCT. I tried to finagle Simone into letting me do a 1 night backpack but she said NO. She is not ready for me to be gone overnight just yet so we compromised with a day hike. What a fabulous hike it was with a few surprises along the way!

I got a pumpkin spice latte on the way to the trail and it ran right through me so I had to take a crap at the trailhead before I even started. LOL. That very important business taken care of, I started walking. It was a chilly 53 degrees but sunny and clear. I wasn't very far in, just starting to get in the zone, when a deer burst out of the brush directly in front of me! Scared me to death! I scared the deer too. She wasn't expecting to see this two legged creature hogging her path. She took off up the trail and I resumed walking with a jack hammering heart.

The Chariot Fire blew through the Mt. Laguna area a couple months ago and I didn't realize it had burned all across the PCT. Most of my hike was through this burn area. Some sections of trail were hard to discern. It looked like the trail was burned and washed away in certain parts. I had to scan ahead to see where the trail emerged further up. It was eerie and ghostly silent. The wind blew ash sideways up on the ridges that overlooked the desert basin.

Walking, walking, walking. Smelling the sweet autumn air. I turned a corner and stopped dead in my tracks. I said out loud "Are you kidding me?!" Directly in front of me, was one single sunflower, it's face beaming at me, arms waving in the breeze. It sat solitary in the middle of the trail with the area surrounding it blackened by fire. I felt like I was given a gift from God. I may blow up the picture I took and frame it, I love it so much.

Continuing on. I realize I have to pee really bad. I scope out both directions and see no one so I squat. Unfortunately, I forgot that Sunrise Highway runs just above the trail in this section. As I'm squatting, I glance up to see a few cyclists rolling along. They laugh and wave at me with my white ass hanging in the wind. I merrily wave back. What else can I do!

I continued on to my turn-around point and then took about a 10 minute break to eat my lunch. I had PB&J, a nectarine, and a Tanka bar. Tanka bars are pemmican. Essentially buffalo meat and cranberries squished together into a bar. Very good protein.

I headed back to the truck and finished 10 miles in 5 hours, 7 minutes. Ending temperature was 65 degrees.





I got these fingerless gloves to cut down on blisters between my thumbs and forefingers from gripping the trekking poles.  They also prevent sunburn on the back of my hands.  They work great!





























Crazy right?!


















Sunday, September 22, 2013

It's All About Posting!

Posting, as in the horse riding type of posting!  I went out to Rocksanne's again to practice my fledgling horse skills this morning.  It was all about posting, trying to get in the rhythm, and getting the correct leg and feet position.  Squeeze those legs!  There were times that I felt like I got a good motion going- a few steps and sometimes the length of the corral.  But then I would get out of sync and jostle all over the place.  I practiced "Two-Point" the most because it was easier to get in the groove.  You lean forward and squeeze those legs and post from that position.  I loved hearing Rocksanne call out "Good Tina, Good Tina!" 

We switched out and I got on Jaz.  She scares me more because she's taller and has a  harder gait so the posting hurts more.  I tried posting some on her but mainly just walked.  The dogs were picking grapes (yes, you read that right- the dogs pick the grapes and sit by the corral and eat them!)  and it must have spooked Jaz because she started flailing about and I nearly flew off.  I thought "Here we go- I'm going to dive face first and break all my teeth out of my head or get trampled."  I heard Rocksanne in the background yelling "Sit back!  Sit back!"  So I did.  Still took me awhile to get control and stop her though.  That was a good learning experience.

I have a long way to go but Rocksanne is an excellent teacher!

I don't know why but I always have to talk about the temperature too.  It was significantly cooler today than it has been.  Autumn is upon us!  59 degrees to start and 72 to end.  And then what?  Well, I got a Slurpee, that's what!

















Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Trail Ride at Penasquitos

Rocksanne invited me to go on a trail ride out at Penasquitos! I thought I would need to do more practice sessions but she asked if I felt comfortable enough to go ahead with a trail ride and I said "Heck Yeah!"

We met at the east end parking lot of Penasquitos Canyon Preserve. I got there before Rocksanne and I just wanted to drive through and look at the horse trailer parking area but apparently vehicles without trailers are not allowed in that section. The camp host started shouting at me but I ignored him and kept going. I just wanted to drive through, for pete's sake. He jumped in his truck and came after me- talking into his walkie talkie. You'd think I just robbed a bank or something. I did my drive-through and then found a parking spot in the parking lot for regular people and he left me alone. Whatever!

I rode sweet Cassy and Rocksanne rode Jaz. I got to practice putting the saddle, bridle, and reins on again. I'm glad Cassy (and Rocksanne )are so patient with me. I brought her a nice juicy apple to get her to be my friend (Cassy, not Rocksanne) :-) We set off up the trail at a nice easy pace. I think it was about 75 degrees when we started at 10:20am. The trail winds under trees and through low lying shrubs and grass. We had several water crossings which were fun and interesting. There was a cool refreshing breeze. It was just delightful, meandering through the canyon, enjoying the scenery and the easy gait of the horses. The water crossings were peaceful and idyllic with bright orange and electric blue dragonflies flitting about. Large orange and black butterflies floated lazily in the breeze and a million little light orange butterflies swarmed the flowers.

Jaz was funny because she would get spooked by trail signs, stumps, weird looking trees, and anything that was out of the ordinary.

We finished in about 2 hours and I believe it was about 88 degrees. My knees were so stiff, I had to hold them straight out from the stirrups to get the blood flowing again before I dismounted. We got all the gear off the horses and then took them over to the hosing off area and washed them down getting all the foam, sweat, and dirt off. Rocksanne taught me how to use a wet scraper. It's basically a piece of curved light-weight metal that you scrape over the horse's hide to get the excess water off. She tried to teach me how to tie the rope to the post but that skill eluded me. I couldn't get the technique straight in my mind so that will take some practice. Then we loaded the horses back into the trailer and we were done! Rocksanne was so nice to bring her horses out to ride- thanks RP!

Then I went to 7-11 and got a giant sugar-free key lime slurpee! BTW, did you know you can get slurpee refills on the cheap?  Save your cup!