Waking up at 6:45am does not regularly occur in my world. However, waking up for my 1st hike with the team on Nov 28th went smoother than I expected. Breakfast egg boiled, tuna sammy made, teeth brushed, clothes on, and boyfriend woken up (to drive me to my mentor's house) all in about 20 minutes.
My mentor is Susan - a cat lover living in the Mission - who has completed 12 seasons of Team In Training events! Triathlon. Check. Ironman. Check. She's already done the winter hiking season before and she's training to become a coach for Team In Training! Did you know the SF Bay Area is the only chapter in the US to have a winter hiking team?
Donate to LLS and my efforts to train for a snowshoe hike in Yosemite!
The hike started out fairly benign. I've hiked at Redwoord Regional Park before - with YWSE back in August. It was much hotter then and I didn't have to deal with mud or cold breezes. It was a lovely trail, even if the uphills kicked my you-know-what. I feared that we would be walking uphill for a large portion of the hike. Not so.
The East Ridge Trail begins/ends at the Skyline Gate of the park, so starting there equals minimal uphill, as you're already at the level of the ridge itself. Our group started there, while another group started in Moraga at Valle Vista. I lucked out starting where I did, because I didn't have any steep uphills like the Valle Vista group did. We met in the middle, where the two trails meet. The passengers from Skyline hiked onward to Valle Vista and vice versa.
The hike down towards Valle Vista was really shady, amidst the redwoods, so I was glad I had built up some heat from the first leg of the hike. Going downhill is actually more difficult for your body and your legs. Again, I got lucky. I'm genetically pre-disposed to handle downhills a bit better because I've got some thick muscular thighs and calves that can handle squatting and bending for longer periods of time. Go genetics go!
We saw mushrooms, ferns, tall intertwined redwoods. It was a really beautiful hike. But the mud was unrelenting - on both stretches of the hike. On the first leg, there would be large pools of rainwater that created massive puddles that you couldn't get around easily, which then created a carpet of mud before and after the puddle. Mud meet hiking boot. Hiking boot meet mud. It's a match made in heaven - they stick to each other like teenagers in heat!
Through the second leg of the hike, the mud got so thick at one point, it felt like I had grown an inch or two. And don't even think about the ways we all thought of scraping it all off at the end of the hike! Wire fence. Rocks. But don't try the grass or brush - it's wet! Suddenly, you'll be carrying a wedding gown train of twigs and leaves with you!
Donate to LLS and my efforts to train for a snowshoe hike in Yosemite!
After the hike, most of us (in different cars than we started out in) ended up at Coach Carolyn's house. Apparently, salty and sweet snacks are what you crave after a hike! Potato chips, pretzels, chocolate, cookies, and beer. I gladly ate my tuna sandwich, but also carbed up on all of the aforementioned junk. I had drank all of my Camelbak's water (70 oz.) - I figured the beer was a great way to cap my first hike! No worries though, I only drank half a pint...
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