Today was pretty cool. I slept in til almost noon - woo hoo! Man, does getting a good night's sleep ever make a difference. I rarely get eight hours sleep, so when I do I feel recharged. I hung around The Pad until 3:30 and then drove up to O'Melveny Park, intending a late afternoon hike but nothing major. When I got there, however the small parking lot was full. That has never happened to me before, but I suppose it was because of the holiday weekend. I didn't wanna hang around waiting for someone to leave, nor did I want to go back home because O'Melveny is a fair drive from my place. It would've felt like I'd driven all that way for nothing and wasted my day off, so, even though I hadn't planned for a strenuous hike, I drove a half mile down Sesnon Boulevard and turned up Neon Street (which probably should be all lit up with colorful gaseous tubes, but for some strange reason isn't).
At the end of Neon is a cul-de-sac that abuts the hillside, and it is there, just past someone's backyard, that the Mario DeCampos Trail begins. The DeCampos is the other trail - besides the longer, steeper O'Melveny Trail - that takes you to the top of Mission Point, the second highest mountain in the Valley.
I have written about all of these things before, and also about Mission Point very recently when I hiked up there in April via the hardcore O'Melveny Trail. That one is super steep in places, and a 5.4 mile roundtrip, and I described it as my All Time Hike. The DeCampos Trail, by comparison, is less steep overall and shorter, only 4.4 miles up and back. The DeCampos is no slouch though, and the first time I hiked it in blazing hot August 2014, it was pretty tough going, moreso than any hike I had done up to that time . Now, after a few times to the top it's more like, "well, I really wasn't planning on this today, but I'll persevere".
T'was a beautiful day, about 70 degrees with puffy clouds and sun. I brought my camera of course and took several pics, some of which I posted on Facebook. I was glad I wore a sweatshirt cause it was chilly at the top. Would've been better if it was chili. I passed a few folks going up, and a few mountain bikers too. I am always amazed at those guys because the climb is hard enough to do on foot. The bikers have to pedal furiously in first gear just to go slightly faster than the on foot hikers. I guess the thrill for them is in the descent, which I would not wanna do on a bike because I'd probably go off the cliff, haha.
I hung out at the top for a little while, taking pix, and then took my time going back down. It sure is nice to be able to take my time, sigh. Though I am grateful indeed for my job, and for every blessing...... :)
This eve I watched Episode 16 of "Twin Peaks". I hate to give a spoiler but I have to because I was so thrilled to see it happen. Close your eyes if you need to, but.......Agent Cooper regained his identity.
I needed to High Five somebody when this happened, and had anybody been here, I would've High Fived them.
That's how awesome it was. If you are a Twin Peaks fan and have seen the 2017 series, you will certainly understand.
Then I went for a nice quiet CSUN walk, to bring my total to six miles for the day. I love it when the campus is empty, right after graduation. It's funny, because I am not a hustle-bustle person. I love to exercise and be outside and do everything fast and think a million thoughts, but I also need open space and quiet, and no cars and no congested populace to do it in. In Summer, we temporarily lose 42,000 people here in Northridge, and it has an immediate calming effect.
See you in the morning and then again after church. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment