Up hill, down hill, and squat walking on sunshine

Last weekend while chatting about places to go for our 14 mile stretch I scrolled through Alltrails and said "The South shore of Lake Hodges is 14 miles, that should work." it sounded simple at the moment, but I would come to regret those words.
Carrie has her shoe game dialed in, but Jo'l and I needed to get a handle on it so we headed to Roadrunner on the first of the year and tried on several pairs before both settling on Altras. So, armed with new shoes, we all met in Rancho Bernardo to set out for the days trail. After going the wrong way for a bit we headed off to the trailhead and started walking the rim of the dry portion of the lake. A couple miles in we came to a shallow portion and started seeing birds out in the water.

From there we wound around the lake, surprised to find that it was a beautiful place. We'd never been out there before, and there seemed to be very few people with the exception of bikers and a couple people taking their dogs out for a walk before the rain started. We rounded a corner and came to a small waterfall that was a pretty sight on an overcast day.

After leaving the waterfall corner we went on uphill and I started to wonder how much uphill there would be given that I had expected this to be mostly a lake walk. I shrugged it off as things leveled out, and we continued on our way eventually coming to a memorial sign for Chelsea's Light. We were on the trail that Chelsea King disappeared from nearly 10 years ago, and this sign is a memorial for the foundation set up in her memory. We also saw signs all over the area advocating for the buddy system while out running or hiking in this area. Despite my love of true crime, I won't go into the details of her death or information about her murderer as what should be remembered about her is the legacy that her parents have worked to preserve for her, for more information go to: https://chelseaslight.org/

My new shoes were working well with cushion right under the ball of my foot where I had been getting sore for the past few weeks, but I noticed that my footing wasn't as sure as it was in my Oboz. I was slipping on loose rocks as we started making our way up hill again and it was causing a lot of strain on my ankles and my hips as I struggled to stay upright and in-socket. 

I thought that we had to be heading for another level area, and Carrie and Jo'l were pulling further and further ahead because I couldn't keep pace uphill. I never can stay in step with them when we start moving upward, and they generously waited for me at the top as I keep telling myself that some day I will be able to breathe and traverse upward at the same time. The hills that we went up rolled back downward, and we had to go through what looked like a really fun tunnel made of fallen trees. It wasn't as fun as it looked when we discovered the art of squat-walking in order to pass through. 

Things got rockier and sketchier from here with steeper hills, narrower cliff-side paths, and more scrambling and boulder hopping than we had done to this point. I was lagging behind again when I heard them talking and Carrie told Jo'l that she was going to be outvoted. They were standing at the edge of what looked like a drop, and before I even got to it I was ready to throw my vote for no way out into the mix. But Jo'l the Gazelle scampered right down it and after some deliberation Carrie and I followed suit and kept going with the promise of our snack break looming large. 

As we kept going the trail managed to get steeper, and harder to follow. We took a wrong fork, traced our steps back, took the correct fork, and still it didn't ease up. Finally we had to make a decision. The rain was starting to patter down, but with nearly a mile to go in rough terrain to our halfway point did we want to risk climbing back up and down in the rain and mud? We decided not to and turned back doing the whole thing in reverse which was a little easier in some places and more challenging in others. I missed my hiking shoes pretty badly at this point, even though I appreciated the cushion that I had in the Altras. 

We kept on until we got out of the steepest parts, and took a break for snacking on a flat rock under a wide oak. We've really nailed our snacking game with fruit, bread, cheese, and todays olives. No photos as we were hungry and documentation wasn't a priority. Today's cheese: 1,000 day Gouda from Trader Joe's. 

As we got back to the road we had to decide what to do about our missing miles from the early turn around. My slowed pace had become a full-on trudge by this point and I was all for going back to the car and going home to take a shower, but there's this bridge... 

If you're a San Diego commuter you may be familiar with the spooky bridge that you can see to the West of the 15 freeway. When it's cold and damp out it's often surrounded by mist, fog, and spooky looking bare trees. Today is was clear but that dead-tree area it turns out is the empty part of Lake Hodges, and that bridge is part of the available walking area for people like us. We were so excited to go across after years of seeing it from the freeway and wondering where it goes to and how to get there. Walking on the pavement felt good and much more stable after my wobbly climb through the rocky and loose paths around the lake, but it was short lived as we had more miles to add and not enough bridge for it all. 

A mile or so past the bridge, across a stream, and up another hill, and it was time to turn around. I was glad to be headed for the car in the rain and I could practically feel the call of my couch during that final mile. 

Now that I'm home and have taken stock of my aches and pains we're at slightly sore ankles, swollen toes (that's not new!) creaky knees, a disgruntled right hip, and a new pain in the crease of my left hip that I'm told is a normal hip flexor pain that can be solved with stretching. We're on the lookout for a paved path for tomorrow to avoid the mud after todays rain, so we'll see how well the new shoes do on pavement. Now it's time for some Advil and an early night.