Sunday on the trail

This morning, my friend Karen & I hit the trail. We call this 'the loop', but I think the real name is maybe Peacock Flats. It's actually a fire trail at the end of Crenshaw Boulevard, right at Del Cerro Park. We call it 'the loop' because a) it's fun, and b) if you take it all the way, the fire trail ends at the bottom of Portuguese Bend Road in the gated community of Rolling Hills. We usually walk up that to Crest Road, and take it back to Crenshaw and return where we started from. Although it feels like a half marathon, it's only about 3.5 miles roundtrip.

It's a great hike, much of it with scenery like this, but the hills are grueling. The expected high temperature today was 97, so we started out at 8 am. I think it was maybe only 87 at that point. Instead of taking the full loop, today we stopped at the gate and turned around. The thing about continuing through that gate is that you go up a long, windy drive that's really steep. Walking back on the trail is a little less steep, but it's a gradual hill that doesn't end. By the time we were almost done, I was seeing stars. But this is the reward:

Over ten thousand steps before 10 am! All that in an hour and forty five minutes. It's an exhausting way to start a Sunday, but worth it on so many other levels! I hope you are enjoying your weekend! XO