Rick Wang's Weblog

The trail was very well maintained and had a low to moderate incline. Brian set a comfortable pace, and no one had trouble keeping up. The scenery was typical foothills, except much greener. Many of the rocks were partially covered with vibrant green moss, grass was growing, and leaves were generally a dark green. After some time through a mix of light forest and foothill terrain, at the Bear Canyon Loop, the terrain changed to a more reddish, desert-like shrubland. By now Beth had taken over pace setting and had a somewhat faster pace than Brian, but still in the comfort zone. My ankles actually started hurting around this point due to yesterday's run, but it was a dull and ignorable pain. Trina brought up the story about her experience with stinging nettles, and then finding out how they were edible via YouTube (I searched for a video later). There was a noticeable amount of mud puddles on the trail that I consciously avoided. We also passed by a wood and wire fence that had been clipped through.

Eventually, we reached a discreet white marker in the ground that indicated where to do the ascent to Sitton Peak. It was rather steep, similar to my experiences at Etiwanda and Sunset ridges. I got out the workout gloves in case I needed to brace myself, which was somewhat embarrassing since Brian did not seem to use his hands. Trina was behind so I did not see how she did. Beth was further behind since she wanted to take it slow with hiking sticks. It was a good but short workout, covering between .25 and .5 miles to reach the top. At the top, there were some comfortable rocks to sit on, a discreet ornamental plate attached to a rock, and no red coffee can to sign in at. We rested and ate food. I tried to eat the failed wheat bread from yesterday. In the distance, we were able to see several mountain ranges, but no one seemed able to definitively identify them. We learned that Beth likes sourdough and ricochets. Also, we were able to see over San Juan Capistrano, to the Pacific Ocean, and Catalina Island. I took some pictures of the group using Trina's camera, but was not able to get a good backdrop.

On the way back, I got to go descend first, and had to slide down a couple of portions as my balance is terrible. I had a couple of near slips but managed to get down without problems. At the base of the mountain, we regrouped and headed back. Notably, there was a broken airfoil on the ground, by a rusty water tank. It was nice being able to see the internals of the airfoil, where I described the utility of the honeycomb structure to Trina. Brian and Beth did not seem interested so I avoided doing a full lecture on airfoils. Or maybe they were already familiar with it. Or maybe it was just bad karma to examine what was obviously someone else's misfortune. Continuing on the way back, I got really bored and started rambling. I hate any kind of downhill. Regrettably, I opened up the zone of conversation beyond cultural norms. While that helped pass the time faster for me, I never know if it annoys people or not. Brian later said it did not. There were the remnants of some graffitti on some rocks. The view on the way back was different. Some horses had contributed to the fertility of the soil. There was a gate. Eventually, there was the parking lot and we headed out. Overall, it was an enjoyable hike, and well timed given the stormy forecast tomorrow. We were finished a little after 1AM. Everyone had used substantially less water than they brought, possibly due to the cool weather.