Jason and I hiked from Sierra Madre to Mt. Wilson today. I took this picture from near the top. We came didn't come up via the valley pictured, but a similar valley to its left. The hike was 7 3/4 miles, with a 4100 foot elevation gain. It was great and exhausting. I stopped a million times. The first hour and a half was hot and steep, with little shade and a fair number of people. The rest was varyingly steep, but often pretty, shaded and wooded. I had blisters on both heels, but they weren't too painful. I'll have to wear open-backed sandals for a few days. It took us 4 hours and 45 minutes. I sweated profusely and drank about 2 liters of water. My clothes and backpack are covered with salt from my sweat. It was sunny and in the low 80s.
Every day I see Mt. Wilson from campus. It looks huge and impossible tall and far away. Believing it was climbable was mentally challenging. I'm usually not one to do something because it's there, as if the presence of a challenge is inherently motivating, but in this case I was.
Before the hike we spend about an hour and a half shuttling a car to the top and then coming back down to the bottom. We agreed that this is onerous. Also, I generally don't like hiking on the Los Angeles side of the mountains, because the smog impairs my breathing and is ugly. Also, the view (at least for the first while) is the city. There were many reasons we didn't want to repeat this hike. Now we won't have to.
The hike is similar to the below link. It has a different starting place and travels mostly on footpaths, not roads. The views and flora are much the same.
No comments:
Post a Comment