Training Hikes #6, #7, #8

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

Training Hike #5

Ad Hoc Hike

The hike that wasn't 

Training Hike #5 was going to be the first on Pacific Crest Trail, but unfortunately extreme weather caused the hike to be canceled. This was going to be a point-to-point hike.

La Jolla Cove to Mount Soledad 

We made up our own hike going up from La Jolla Cove to Mount Soledad. Once up Soledad we headed down to false point then along the coastline back to the cove. 

Tom, Me and Kenz (our hiking buddy)

Training Hikes (so far)

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

Training Hike #4

Iron Mountain 

This was supposed to be Sycamore Canyon but because of the rains and then other events at the same venue, the hike leads settled on Iron Mountain with the Ellie Lane extension. The hike to the Iron Mountain summit is something I've done many times especially when my kids were young. The Ellie Lane extension was new for me. The extension starts out as a narrow single track opening back up and then getting more narrow again. The ascent was fine, but the descent was very technical. Much of the trail involved traversing over baseball sized rocks which made for a slow hike. 

Photo Dump

An early start, we saw the dawn -- total wow. 

The traditional pre-hike picture.

Group Shot

The trail until the summit

Tom and Kenz waiting for me

The hike went up to the summit then looped back up and around. 

The Training Hikes (So Far)

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	1591ft

Training Hike #3

Mother Miguel 

Our third training hike was at Mother Miguel. The climb on this started pretty quickly with a single track of switchbacks, that eventually opened up to a wider trail. The views here are amazing -- so I've been told -- but this day was super foggy. It was a nice and cool hike. 

The group

At the summit

Super foggy at Summit

On the way down

The hike

The Training Hikes (So Far)

 

Hike	Trail	Distance	Elevation
#1	Daley Ranch	6.32mi	568ft
#2	Bernardo Mountain	7.1mi	1079ft
#3	Mother Miguel	6.8mi	1555ft