Two Quick Hikes

It's not all books, knitting, and weaving around Willow's Cottage.  The Professor and I love to walk and hike.  After our rainy week last week, we have been taking advantage of the warmer sunny weather this week.

Hill Canyon.  Yes, that Hill Canyon.  Where the Hill Fire started in November.  The canyon trail is still closed only because the bridge across the creek isn't fixed yet.  But the trail up the east side of the canyon wall is open, so we hiked up there Monday afternoon.  The GREEN which is popping up everywhere is beautiful and healing to the land.  Yes, we can thank all that rain we've had for the past week.

Then on Tuesday after having lunch with some visiting family from up north, we hiked into the area where the Woolsey Fire swept through at the same time as the Hill Fire did.  Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area is closed due to the federal government shut down, so the buildings are closed, but the grounds are open for hiking.  Specifically, we hiked around the King Gillette Ranch.  Yeah, that Gillette.  Basically, this ranch was purchased and built from the money King acquired from selling those little razor blades.  The ranch land didn't burn, but the areas around it and even across the road did.

Front entrance

You can see the effects of the lack of personnel caring for the property.

Leaves Every Where.

Back entrances

We hiked up to Inspiration Point, about 180 feet above the area where the house is.

(notice the cars and the white trailers in the picture above?  That is probably a movie photo shoot.)

I zoomed in and took this photo of the Gillette Ranch House from the top of Inspiration Point.

And a shot of Inspiration Point from the front lawn.

Both of these hikes weren't more than about two miles each, but they included some steep hills and so much beauty!

What I Did This Week

The lack of a camera to document my week has been frustrating for me.  We did look at cameras but I have not yet decided which camera I want.  In one sense I realize that I have become lazy in writing because 'one picture is worth a thousand words' and therefore I don't have to write as many words in a blogpost.  So today I am writing my Friday Fave Fives and not adding photos (which feels very weird to me).  But there is still much for which to be grateful!

1. and 2.  Walking and hiking are favorite activities for me.  This week we took two walks.  The first was along the beaches beyond Ventura.  We parked at the west end of the city and walked about two and a half miles up the biking/walking trail toward Santa Barbara.  The weather was perfect.  The air was clear.  The scene was peaceful.  It was the perfect place and day to walk by the ocean.  Then another day we hiked in the Santa Monica Mountains.  The area is called Satwiwa and is the site of an ancient Indian settlement.  Where we walked was mostly through meadows although there was enough up and downs to make it more challenging.

3.  On Wednesday we drove into Los Angeles.  How on earth could that be a fave when the traffic is always horrendous?  Well, we took the opportunity take a walk on The Strand which is the beach walk in the South Bay beach towns, to have lunch with a friend,  visit another friend who is in rehab from a stroke, and finally to pick up a friend/neighbor at LAX airport.  All in all, it was a wonderful day and was worth the traffic stress.

4.  My sister in law (one who lives in our town) had a birthday.  So we celebrated with lunch after church on Sunday with another sister and a nephew.

5.  Any excuse to start a new knitting pattern is a good thing, right?  My daughter asked for help on a pattern, so I figured I might as well try out the pattern myself.  Makes sense, right?  In the end, she chose a different pattern to use to knit a shawl, but since I had already made a lot of progress on my 'sample', I decided to just keep on  knitting.  I'm half done.

Thus ends my attempt to express Willow's Week with any photos.

A Saturday Hike

On Saturday afternoon, The Professor and I decided that a hike was a great choice of activity.  Where to hike?   Obviously since we live on the edge of the Santa Monica Mountains, it was a easy choice to hike one of our favorite areas.

The main trail in Point Mugu State Park runs from the beach at Pacific Coast Highway just north of Malibu up into the Santa Monica Mountains to Thousand Oaks.  This trail is paved and is very popular with mountain bikers as well as hikers.

It's seven miles to the beach from here.

See that canyon?  In a normal rainy year, there is water in the creek.  These days, it's just dry brush.

The Professor and I walked down to where a secondary trail splits off and follows the creek up to the falls. Then we turned around and hiked back up the trail.

This entire area was burned in the Camarillo Springs Fire three and a half years ago.  You can still see the dead trees and brush although there is new growth sprouting from the ashes and dead branches.

The madrone bushes are growing back.  You can always tell the madrones by their red trunks and branches.

Our Saturday hike was just what we needed.  A few miles of walking in quietness, in nature.

August Break #9 and #10

#9  Earth

This is my part of the earth, my daily view above my neighborhood.  Santa Monica Mountains, a rugged coastal range between us and Los Angeles.  Two years ago, all the vegetation burned off and because we are enduring a drought, there is still not much green up there.

#10  Talisman

I checked on the definition of a talisman.  Talisman means an object which is endowed with magical powers.  According to that definition, I have no talisman.  But I own a beloved and favorite necklace which is one piece of jewelry which I actually wear on occasion.  Celtic Cross in sterling silver.

August Break is a meme which I found HERE through Tracy's blog.  I don't have flickr or instagram accounts, so this is the only place I am posting.  No links.

Hiking at Satwiwa

As promised, I am sharing our day in the Santa Monica Mountains.  We hiked six miles of hills, cliffs and stream beds.  This is an area which was burned over during The Springs Fire last year.  That fire swept through the coastal mountains from Hwy 101 by (and past) my house and down to Pacific Coast Highway.

The next month, June, I hiked in the burned area and it looked like this:

Nine months later, it doesn't look much better.  There has been almost no rain to encourage new growth.  There are tiny spots of green where vegetation is reestablishing, but truly it still looks like a wasteland.

On the other hand, hiking here is still beautiful in its own way.  We shared the trails with birds

horses

and other hikers.

There are so many exciting places to explore

like the Chumash lodge

tops of hills

dry creek gullies

shale slides

Sometimes you just have to stop and sit until you catch your second wind.

 Were we really down in that valley?

Did we really hike that far?

Yes, we were.

Yes, we did.

Six Miles of Beauty

The absolute highlight of Willow's Week which I'm posting for Friday Fave Five was a six mile trail I hiked with a friend this week.  Although the morning was foggy and gray, by the afternoon the sun had burned off the coastal cloud layer, and the sun was shining.  It was windy, but that didn't stop us from driving out to the Pacific Coast Highway and turning south toward Malibu.

Generally, most people do not realize that the coastal area between Pt. Mugu just south of Oxnard (well, technically it's east because the coastline along there traverses east/west, not north/south) is an area designated as Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.  There are 500 miles of hiking trails which range in elevation from sea level at the Pacific Ocean to over 3,000 feet at the highest peak, Sandstone Peak.

We've been casually planning this hike for more than a month, saying, "Yes, let's hike next week.  Oh, wait. Sorry, I'm busy with ....  OK, we'll try on Tuesday, or Wednesday, or Saturday or another day which ends in 'y'."  Finally, we impulsively decided, "Today!"  So we did it.

Six miles.  Sea level to 1,250 feet.  Fifty photos.

Here are my five favorite photos.

1. Purple sage in the twilight.  In the background below us is the Pacific Ocean.  Near the bottom of the trail.

2.  Of course, I had to photograph flowers.  This vibrant yellow daisy like flower blooms everywhere in the spring.

3.  Bright orange penstemons grow along the trail.

4.  Because we were hiking in the late afternoon into the early evening, the moon rose over the ridge on the east.

5.  Yes, we really were that high.  Standing on the ridge looking straight down on BOTH sides of the trail.  Somewhere down there along the beach's edge is Pacific Coast Highway.  Do you see that itty-bitty, tiny, little bump to the left of the sun's reflection on the ocean below the cloud on the left?  That's Mugu Rock, the famous monolith you pass when you begin to drive inland past Point Mugu Naval Air Station.  It towers above your car.  But from our perch, it was barely visible.

This was my 'mountain top' experience this week.  I can't wait to hike up there again!

And a bonus:  my friend shared a quote she found which she declared is something I might have said.  I seems to be famous among my acquaintances for my tendencies toward simplicity/minimalism.

Thank God for the things that I do not own. (Saint Teresa of Avila)