The weeks are flying by!
I got behind on my blog posts so let’s get caught up. We have had three training hikes in the past 3 weekends – Palomar, Santa Ysabel, and PCT Lake Moreno.
Training Hike #6: Palomar Mountain
This was the morning of the time change so we essentially got on the road at 4am to drive to the meeting location. It was dark and cold for sure. A lot of the time we had frost on the trail which was beautiful but hard to fully capture in a photo. At times we walked through meadows and had our feet get partially submerged in hidden mini streams under the foliage that covered the trail. In the end, The hike was 9.7 mi with 1,575 elevation gain.
Training Hike #7: Santa Ysabel
We were going to try for the PCT Desert View to Kwaaymii again, and yet again another storm caused us to do a different trail. The Santa Ysabel hike was very pretty. The first mile had a bit of a killer climb out the gate followed by a bit of a reprieve before another 1.3mi climb. At this point, we have the bulk of the elevation gain behind us with the rest realized by rolling hills. Thankful for the long stretches through meadows to elongate our strides. Like the previous week, the trail had quite a bit of mud to deal with in parts. The hike was 12.3mi with 2303ft of elevation gain.
Training Hike #8: PCT Lake Moreno to Boulder Oaks
This was an out & back, and our first training hike on the PCT during this training! It was a really nice trail – no ruts or rocks to worry about which made for a fast hike. The climb was gradual, and because this was an out and back, we did the 1300ft gain in two parts. It was a nice day for this hike, later the storm came in and we wondered how the PCT hikers we saw fared. We also saw turkeys on the trail.
The Stats, So Far
Here is a table showing all the training hikes so far. The training hikes have totalled up to 71.9 miles and 11,031 elevation gain. Then we walk/hike another 20-30 during the rest of the week.
Hike | Trail | Distance | Elevation |
---|---|---|---|
#1 | Daley Ranch | 6.32mi | 568ft |
#2 | Bernardo Mountain | 7.1mi | 1079ft |
#3 | Mother Miguel | 6.8mi | 1555ft |
#4 | Iron Mountain | 7.5mi | 1051ft |
#5 | Ad Hoc (Mt Soledad) | 10.25mi | 1591ft |
#6 | Palomar | 9.7mi | 1575ft |
#7 | Santa Ysabel | 12.26mi | 2303ft |
#8 | PCT Lake Moreno to Boulder Oaks | 11.97mi | 1309ft |