We had a work event today, a fundraiser with lots of volunteers, public awareness, education, collaboration, networking, and so on. There were 25-mile and 40-mile bike routes (I haven’t been on a bike in decades), a hike, and a walk.
In retrospect, I probably thought that, in addition to helping and participating as an employee, I would participate in the Walk (1.5 miles, flat, around the park) when I in fact took off with the group doing the Hike (6 miles, 1,000+ feet elevation gain, up into the mountains).
I finished and they didn’t have to bring in a helicopter to rescue me or recover my corpse. I kicked that mountain’s ass!
I’ve reached the point in the aftermath where every muscle in my body right down to my eyebrows is cramping, twitching, and incredibly sore. That mountain kicked my ass!
Image: Strava app
It was enough of an ordeal that both my phone and my Apple Watch ran out of power. It was weird finishing the route without any way of contacting anyone if there had been an emergency, or of checking my location on the GPS or trail map, or even taking pictures. It shows to go you how dependant I am on my electronic assistants. I AM BORG, RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!
We climbed up into the hills at the far end of the park. You can see the white tents from our event way off in the distance on the left.
There were a ton of wildflowers everywhere and at the beginning we climbing up along the hills overlooking some very nice neighborhoods.
It was cool and drizzly and foggy. In the AllTrails app you can see tons of beautiful pictures of the view from up higher – we didn’t see any of that. Totally socked in, we climbed up into the low-hanging cloud deck and pretty much saw nothing but grey off the trail. Cool, damp, wet, slippery – yeah, fun times!
And look! Over on the other side of the road you can see others of our group who weren’t horribly out of shape climbing up the first really good set of switchbacks. The clouds hide the multiple peaks stretching out to the north with high-tension powerlines swinging from peak to peak to peak.
In the end, I think the peak is looking down over the 101 Freeway where it dives down from Canejo Valley and Thousand Oaks down to the coastal plain of Camarillo. I’m sure it’s a spectacular view. Maybe some day I’ll be able to go back and see.
Or not.
Image: Alltrails.com
After I go home and was describing the ordeal experience to my family, the Second Daughter (who, along with her husband, is a hiker, runner, and camper, and very active) sent this link. YEAH! That’s it. “Moderately challenging.” Not quite the words I was using, but okay. Po-TAY-toe, Po-TAH-toe.
Lessons learned?
One, make sure the electronics I’m so dependant on are charged, or carry a battery backup if I’m going into an unusual situation like this.
Two, while I’m seeing a trainer and going to the gym, training for strength is not training for endurance. Similar yes, related for sure, but not the same.
Three, while my head still thinks that I’m 29 or 39 and I can just rip off a hike like this with little or no notice, reality says I’m 69 and things really, REALLY are starting to change.
Four, I need a better source of pain killers or horse tranquilizers. (Just kidding. I think.)
