What a difference a day can make. And what a difference between hiking with sore, battered feet vs feet that are reasonably happy. The first is a trial to be endured; the second is fun – that thing that recreational activities are supposed to be.
I spent much of the day yesterday with my feet elevated, which seems to have drained out some of the knots that made it feel like I had a marble in my shoe.
Daughter Leah came up from Claremont where she is going to school at Pitzer College and we enjoyed a few rounds of tacos and beers together. She brought my dog Bonny, who apparently is also going to college – not just attending classes, but also parties, where she has acquired a taste for cheeseburgers that is beginning to show up in her waistline.
Brother Dave came up to Wrightwood for breakfast and brought inserts to stiffen up my shoes. The rest was that I could walk comfortably and normally for the first time in a few days.
Which was good, because I certainly did not sleep well. I had a seemingly endless dream of being in a race that was hundreds of miles long, whose course and finish line kept changing, but which bestowed unexpected rewards as well. I guess this proves that it is possible to eat too many tacos.
North side of the San Gabriels, mi 373
Dave and I had a nice breakfast and then he joined me for the first few miles of hiking to Vincent Gap. It was good to be with him – our parents both passed away this past year and we talked of our feelings of loss and disorientation at losing them.
From Vincent Gap the trail climbs about 3000 feet in 4+ miles to the summit of Mt Baden-Powell. I climbed this some 40 years ago, and the view today is still magnificent – the LA basin was filled with fog which the ocean breezes were pushing up the canyons and then tearing through the gaps, alternately revealing and hiding the mountain peaks.
Old Baldy from Baden-Powell
Yes it gets windy
I found a sunny spot out of the wind, put my feet up and had a most excellent nap, the best since Whitewater Preserve. There is something about napping in the spring sun that is just hard to beat.
Between the late start and the nap I only made 14 miles today, but they were all good miles.