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Laborin' on a Holiday Weekend
The last few weeks have been stressful. I've had some medium-term financial concerns and though Kimberly has been having improvement on some ailments, others have been moving toward crises.
So.
The goal of the holiday weekend was to relax and destress as much as I could. (Same goal as any holiday weekend.)
Saturday I had Taco Bell for lunch and rode up through Wildcat Creek Canyon before settling for a bit at Jewel Lake.
It's currently one of my favorite rides, as there's lots of beautiful terrain, and the biking largely remains within my capability. (There are three large hills on the ride up through Wildcat Canyon, each of which ascends 100-150 feet in a pretty short distance, and I usually walk either one or two of those; the trek out of Tilden Park at the end sometimes requires some walking too.)
On my way into the park, I usually take a break at a picnic table near a water fountain that's a few miles into the park. It's a frequent stop-off for hikers, because it's the only water fountain that I know of anywhere in the south side of Wildcat Canyon. Sometimes I ignore the people who come by, and sometimes I talk with them. Saturday was a talking day. I've even grown familiar enough with the park that I was accurately able to say it was about 2 miles more to Jewel Lake. (Actual mileage on my bike computer later on was right around 2.1.)
Sadly, Jewel Lake is now even more desiccated than it was last year. You can walk all the way around the lake where the water used to be, and the water no longer goes out to the floodgates that lead down to Wildcat Creek. Hopefully we get some rain before the Lake dries up entirely or there are going to be some very unhappy turtles and birds. (The birds could probably fly or waddle up to the larger Lake Anza, but I wouldn't bet on the turtles being able to do so.)
Sunday is my typical day with Kimberly. We grabbed some Subway, ate it at our local dog park, and then walked up to Ici for some ice cream. It was purposefully relaxed, between busyness on Saturday and Monday.
Unfortunately, Kimberly got really exhausted just from walking to Ici and back, due to problems with some of her meds. We'd been talking about doing something more adventurous together on Monday, but instead I ended up going it my own ...
So Monday I ended up going to Redwood Regional Park after lunch at Wendy's. I've only been up there a couple of times, so it was a real treat, and something nice to do on a holiday.
It's a hard ride, of about 1000 feet vertical ascent, and it was a hot day. These two factors probably combined to make me more likely to make it up to the Park, because I felt I had to keep pushing to make it all the way up the hill before it got too hot. So, I did it without any stops to read or write, as I might have done otherwise.
From the top of the Shepherd Canyon Trail to the entrance to Redwood Regional Park is an ascent of about 350 feet in less than a mile. That's rough; it means that the gradient varies from 5-10% with the occasional short, level patch. I did the smart thing and mostly walked it. Nonetheless, I still collapsed and rested atop the leaf-strewn ground for several minutes when I hit 1000 feet. I made it up to the park gate at around 1.15pm, after leaving Wendy's around 11.45am.
I've previously biked around the park and biked in the park on the (bikeable) East Rim trail, but my Fitbit has encouraged me to not stay confined to my bike. So this time I locked my bike up at the parking lot (no actual bike locks, which is typical, so I used a sign) and descended down the Stream Trail.
My theory was that as soon as I got into the Redwood forests and below the rim the temperature would drop, and it did. Too hot 90s to very comfortable 70s, I'd guess The walk along the (sadly entirely dry) stream was very pleasant. I eventually took a side trail and found a nice quiet place to write for a bit. It was at the convergence of three trails, and they were frequent people looking confused and trying to figure out where they were and which path to tke. I was able to point most of them back toward the Stream Trail.
I ran out of water while writing, so decided to take the Stream Trail a bit further to what was marked as water on the map ... but it was all turned off! So I went even further to "Trail's End", and there was water there. (Whew!) It was actually a good place to go to, because the Stream Trail from the parking lot to Trail's End is bicycle-free, but beyond there, there's a bikeable road. So, some other day I could finish the Stream Trail by biking around the whole park, and then biking up the remaining bit of the Trail.
Early in the day, while ascending the hill, I was still feeling stressed from the aforementioned pressures, but somewhere in the Redwoods, they disappeared. Mostly not back yet. (Whew!)
On my way back from Trail's End, I took a side path that took my up to the East Rim trail and took that back to the parking lot. It was the most grueling part of the day other than those last 350 feet up the hill. The climb wasn't actually bad, but the Rim Trail was mostly in the (hot) sun and had notable uphills all its own. (But I would have been going up hills in the bright sun coming if I stayed on the Stream Trail too.)
I picked up Taco Bell (again) for dinner for Kimberly and me on the way home.
So, that was the Holiday weekend. Lots of junk food, but lots of great exercise out in the wild. I clocked 22+17 = 39 miles on my bike and about 50,000 steps on my Fitbit (which records some fraction of steps when I bike too, but I know I did 4 or 5 miles on foot in the redwoods).
Should be good prep for hiking with the folks on Friday when they're visiting.
So.
The goal of the holiday weekend was to relax and destress as much as I could. (Same goal as any holiday weekend.)
Saturday I had Taco Bell for lunch and rode up through Wildcat Creek Canyon before settling for a bit at Jewel Lake.
It's currently one of my favorite rides, as there's lots of beautiful terrain, and the biking largely remains within my capability. (There are three large hills on the ride up through Wildcat Canyon, each of which ascends 100-150 feet in a pretty short distance, and I usually walk either one or two of those; the trek out of Tilden Park at the end sometimes requires some walking too.)
On my way into the park, I usually take a break at a picnic table near a water fountain that's a few miles into the park. It's a frequent stop-off for hikers, because it's the only water fountain that I know of anywhere in the south side of Wildcat Canyon. Sometimes I ignore the people who come by, and sometimes I talk with them. Saturday was a talking day. I've even grown familiar enough with the park that I was accurately able to say it was about 2 miles more to Jewel Lake. (Actual mileage on my bike computer later on was right around 2.1.)
Sadly, Jewel Lake is now even more desiccated than it was last year. You can walk all the way around the lake where the water used to be, and the water no longer goes out to the floodgates that lead down to Wildcat Creek. Hopefully we get some rain before the Lake dries up entirely or there are going to be some very unhappy turtles and birds. (The birds could probably fly or waddle up to the larger Lake Anza, but I wouldn't bet on the turtles being able to do so.)
Sunday is my typical day with Kimberly. We grabbed some Subway, ate it at our local dog park, and then walked up to Ici for some ice cream. It was purposefully relaxed, between busyness on Saturday and Monday.
Unfortunately, Kimberly got really exhausted just from walking to Ici and back, due to problems with some of her meds. We'd been talking about doing something more adventurous together on Monday, but instead I ended up going it my own ...
So Monday I ended up going to Redwood Regional Park after lunch at Wendy's. I've only been up there a couple of times, so it was a real treat, and something nice to do on a holiday.
It's a hard ride, of about 1000 feet vertical ascent, and it was a hot day. These two factors probably combined to make me more likely to make it up to the Park, because I felt I had to keep pushing to make it all the way up the hill before it got too hot. So, I did it without any stops to read or write, as I might have done otherwise.
From the top of the Shepherd Canyon Trail to the entrance to Redwood Regional Park is an ascent of about 350 feet in less than a mile. That's rough; it means that the gradient varies from 5-10% with the occasional short, level patch. I did the smart thing and mostly walked it. Nonetheless, I still collapsed and rested atop the leaf-strewn ground for several minutes when I hit 1000 feet. I made it up to the park gate at around 1.15pm, after leaving Wendy's around 11.45am.
I've previously biked around the park and biked in the park on the (bikeable) East Rim trail, but my Fitbit has encouraged me to not stay confined to my bike. So this time I locked my bike up at the parking lot (no actual bike locks, which is typical, so I used a sign) and descended down the Stream Trail.
My theory was that as soon as I got into the Redwood forests and below the rim the temperature would drop, and it did. Too hot 90s to very comfortable 70s, I'd guess The walk along the (sadly entirely dry) stream was very pleasant. I eventually took a side trail and found a nice quiet place to write for a bit. It was at the convergence of three trails, and they were frequent people looking confused and trying to figure out where they were and which path to tke. I was able to point most of them back toward the Stream Trail.
I ran out of water while writing, so decided to take the Stream Trail a bit further to what was marked as water on the map ... but it was all turned off! So I went even further to "Trail's End", and there was water there. (Whew!) It was actually a good place to go to, because the Stream Trail from the parking lot to Trail's End is bicycle-free, but beyond there, there's a bikeable road. So, some other day I could finish the Stream Trail by biking around the whole park, and then biking up the remaining bit of the Trail.
Early in the day, while ascending the hill, I was still feeling stressed from the aforementioned pressures, but somewhere in the Redwoods, they disappeared. Mostly not back yet. (Whew!)
On my way back from Trail's End, I took a side path that took my up to the East Rim trail and took that back to the parking lot. It was the most grueling part of the day other than those last 350 feet up the hill. The climb wasn't actually bad, but the Rim Trail was mostly in the (hot) sun and had notable uphills all its own. (But I would have been going up hills in the bright sun coming if I stayed on the Stream Trail too.)
I picked up Taco Bell (again) for dinner for Kimberly and me on the way home.
So, that was the Holiday weekend. Lots of junk food, but lots of great exercise out in the wild. I clocked 22+17 = 39 miles on my bike and about 50,000 steps on my Fitbit (which records some fraction of steps when I bike too, but I know I did 4 or 5 miles on foot in the redwoods).
Should be good prep for hiking with the folks on Friday when they're visiting.