Sunday Hiking

Slight delay on this post, but I was too tired to post yesterday. I have been wanting to go hiking for the past few weeks, and the beautiful weather has made me want to go even more. Add in the fact that it rained all Saturday, leading to clear skies, and I had to get outside Sunday.

Sadly, all of my friends were too busy or lazy to come with me, but I decided I wasn't going to sit around all day wishing I was hiking.

So, I hopped in my baby blue beetle and headed over to Pasedena, to hike Echo Mountain and Inspiration Point, which according to Yelp is the best post-rain hike. It was still a little hazy.

The trail was pretty busy, and I got my first glimpse into the hiking scene. There were tons of people with dogs, some running up the trail, and plenty of middle aged women gossiping. Because I was by myself, lots of people wanted to talk to me. I met a lot of characters a long the way. 

After an hour and half of a pretty easy hike up, I reached the peak of the mountain. I was a little disappointed, because I wasn't tired at all and I was promised a difficult hike. But there were some cool ruins of an old train line and hotel to check out.

I was sitting in the ruins of the ballroom of the hotel and two younger guys came and sat with me. They were two wild-firefighters who were in LA for the weekend. I mentioned how easy this trail was and they laughed. Turned out I was only halfway there. 

It's a two part trail. The first part, which I did, was easy and about 5000 people hiked it every weekend. The second part, which went to inspiration point, was for people in very good shape and only about 150 people completed it a weekend. Now that sounded more like it.

They were continuing up to inspiration point, and they seemed to doubt that I would make it, but nevertheless the 3 of us took off on the Castle Canyon trail. It started off easy enough, but within 20 minutes quickly became more of hike/climb. 

My new friends were in better shape then me, so I told them not to wait for me. I told them I would see them at the top, they seemed to doubt that I would make it. 

But two hours, a scrapped knee, sunburned shoulders, and sore legs later, I made it to the top! The two fire fighter guys gave me a road of applause as I walked up and gave me a cookie.

It was a 4000 ft elevation change, and I felt ever step of it. The air was clear and the sky was blue, and there was a nice cool breeze to cool me off. 

There were really cool telescopes that you could see different areas of LA though.

I could even see all the way to Catalina Island, 60 miles away! Sadly it didn't appear too well in pictures. 

My new friends were continuing on the next mountain peak but I was good for the day. Time to head back down the mountain...

Overall, my trip was just over 11 miles in four and half hours! The way down was a lot easier then the way up. I walked for a while with an older gentleman who gave a full list of the best hikes in the LA area. Definitely going to have to check most of them out.

Since, I was already in Pasedena, I also swung by the Rose Bowl to check it out. Sadly the gates were closed and I couldn't get any closer. 

I then cruised on over to Beverly Hills to meet up with my friend from high school for a celebratory meal/early birthday dinner of super delicious Salmon tacos. 

And for dessert: Maple Bacon Ice Cream with whisky caramel. Because I deserved it.

Update from Monday night: I could barely move my legs all day. Still worth it.