Uphill Mountains

I don’t HAVE to choose just one activity – so I think I’ll do many! Hiking is the 2nd thing that seems to have a gravitational pull on me. The hiking that was once a weekly or bi-monthly outing has morphed into an “Extreme Hiking Situation”. My friend, Kristin, has motivated me (I like to think we motivate each other), to really push myself. If I can climb that hill once a week (“do you want to stop here, or do you have it in you to make it to the water fountain??” is her most often used line), why not do it twice and let’s throw in an even tougher hike once a week or so!?! We try to get in 3 hikes a week – two hikes up the Pleasanton Ridge and once a week up the ass-kicking Morrison Canyon. Both hikes are steep – the ridge has an elevation change of about 1200 feet in 1.5 miles, Morrison Canyon is a bit more brutal with a 1600 foot elevation gain in 2.25 miles. Don’t forget, we still have to come down again!

We are sort of informally training for the Sunol to Mission Peak hike, where we hope our significant others will be waiting for us with bags of In and Out and a ride to our car. ‘Cause that’s a hike I’m not doing round trip! More on that later.