The Adventure Begins... After the Hike

This morning we awoke at our usual early Saturday morning hour for a six hour hike in Sanborn Park. We had been to this park before, but because we attended the pole clinic, we didn't get much hiking done.

Today was, however, a different story. We met on Skyline Road near the entrance to Castle Rock State Park and walked across the street to the trailhead. We hiked down Skyline trail to where it joined Sanborn trail and then to the main picnic grounds and YSI building of the park. That took about a third of the time alotted for our hike.

The uphill climb back to the parking lot took most of the remainder of our time. We took a different trail back, the Peterson trail is apparently a fire road, which proved to be much steeper and more direct than the path we had taken down the mountain. This was the most difficult part of the hike to date.

This was also the first day that we really had to pack a lunch as we were on the trail until 2:00 pm. Until today, we only packed snacks. One of my many errands yesterday was to stop at the grocery store and get a couple of deli sandwiches to throw in our backpacks. We stopped to eat our lunch at the junction of the Peterson trail with the Sanborn trail and we all had a much needed rest. That was good enough for me. I had my second wind after that and I was in the lead of our "Hot On Your Trail" group for most of the rest of the way.

When we reached the Skyline trail once again, we hiked in the opposite direction until the trail ended in a meadow with many beautiful wildflowers - and a conveniently located outhouse, of which some of us took advantage before hiking back to the parking lot. I was very pleased with my new orthotics. They held up very well and by the end of this six hour hike, my feet were still happy and in no pain whatsoever.

We rushed home after the hike, showered and napped, and then had dinner. I took our son to the Easter Vigil Mass - the most beautiful Mass of the year. After Mass, we rushed home, loaded the already packed suitcases into the car. Our southern California adventure begins! Since we planned to drive all the way to Oceanside, we decided to break up the drive over two days, and drove about three hours to Kettleman City where we spent the night.

Good Friday: Busy But Still Time for God

I had a ton of things that needed to get done today. Ginger, our golden retriever, got into the muddy garden yesterday and needed a bath, comb out and grooming desperately. I spent the first part of my morning looking for a Petco that had an opening in its grooming department. She also had to go to the kennel, in advance of our vacation. There will be no time to get her there tomorrow, since we will be hiking in Sanborn park during their Saturday business hours.


And speaking of grooming, our son was well past the time for a haircut. We handled that as well since there was no school today. There were other errands that needed attending to as well. There will be no time to do them tomorrow.

My amateur radio group meets for lunch on Fridays. It was a spartan lunch for me, since this was Good Friday. The Stations of the Cross and Good Friday service occurred immediately after lunch. Then it was back to running errands and trying to get some packing done for our vacation. I'm sure I burned quite a few calories today.

The good news is that I have been wearing my orthotics in increasing increments over the past week. They seem to be working well, and the pain that I get in the ball of my foot has pretty much disappeared.

Pole Clinic & Hike in Sanborn Park

Duane and I packed our gear last night, so we were ready for an early morning start. When the alarm went off at 6:00 am, we showered, dressed and ate breakfast. Duane's getting better about getting up so early on a Saturday morning. I'm somewhat more used to it as I drive our son to school every morning. But still, I dislike eating breakfast so early. I'm just not hungry this early in the morning.

We met at the parking log at El Paseo de Saratoga shopping mall, in front of Le Boulanger. This is one of our team's carpool meeting places. I'm awake enough for a cup of coffee now! After a short wait, we drove over to Sanborn Park. We arrived just as the gates opened, paid our parking fee, and parked our cars.

Sanborn Park is nestled in the hills of Santa Clara County, just above the City of Saratoga. The Youth Science Institute hosts children's summer camps in the thickly wooded park. Since Duane decided that he wanted to do the pole clinic, I decided to do it with him, even though I felt that I needed the hike more than the poles. I went into the pole clinic thinking that poles were optional and that I probably didn't need them.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Our presenter, Jayah, who hikes with the Sierra Club, was very knowledgable and enthusiastic about her subject. She showed us how to use poles and the proper way to adjust and size them for our bodies. Most of the newer poles even include shock absorbers! One of the benefits of the poles include transferring some of the energy and shock from your joints to the poles, thereby saving your knees from some of the stress. It's not a lot, but it might make a difference on a long, strenuous hike like Half Dome. Another benefit is that your fingers don't swell up as much when you have something to wrap them around. When hiking without poles, it is natural for the arms to swing in rhythym with the gait, which pushes blood out to the fingertips where it has to fight gravity back up the arm.

One of the things I have been looking forward to learning about was gloves. Today's pole clinic also featured both regular and fingerless gloves. The trick was to pick the right size of fingerless gloves, which ran very small, so that they would still be the right size when/if your fingers swell so as not to cut off the circulation. The gloves are a very lightweight nylon polyester with synthetic leather grips and padding. I bought both fingerless and regular gloves. It wouldn't be a bad thing to start these early morning hikes with a pair of regular gloves until my fingers warm up. I've also been wondering what kind of gloves we should use for the cable section of the hike. The answer is, it turns out, cheap gloves from the hardware store! What is needed is something with a really good grip that you don't care if it gets cut up or damaged.

After getting equipped with both gloves and poles, we walked off with Jayah in the lead, teaching us techniques for using poles. The poles are adjustable and are lengthened on the downhill in order to avoid bad posture and leaning over the poles. The poles are shortened on the uphill. Uphill is definitely easier than downhill, which appears to require somewhat more coordination, although I'm not sure why. When walking over cement or on a bridge, pick the poles up so you don't dull the tips or get them caught in a crack between planks! Who knew that poles have rules!?

I haven't done much hiking in Sanborn Park. Our son did a science camp there one year. So it was nice to get out and see some of the park's beautiful redwood forests and lush green ferns. Because of the pole clinic, our hike was shorter, but even so I'm glad I went to the pole clinic. I bought the poles that Jayah picked out for me and I learned something new and potentially useful for our Half Dome Challenge.