Dan's Outside

Weekend Hike #1

After an early January that did not allow for much in the way of hiking, I finally got out for (almost) the first time yesterday. I was up early and down at Calero park just as the sun was coming up through the morning fog. I quickly loaded up the camera pack and headed the short distance to Los Cerritos pond, thinking I might stop for a moment there before heading off on a long hike.

As I arrived at the pond I thought it might be interesting to take some photos of the foggy dawn, and when a large white egret flew up from behind some reeds at the edge of the lake I decided to set up the tripod and see what might happen.

I didn’t notice how much time had passed – though I did notice how cold I was getting – until almost an hour and a half had passed. Fortunately, I think I got some interesting photographs at this usually nondescript pond, including a couple I posted earlier.

I finally dragged myself away from the pond and made it up the Pena trail to a hill top where the sun was just breaking through the fog. After stopping here for another half hour or so of photography I realized that I was not going to have time for my original hike plans.

Instead, I decided to do explore a cross-country route along a fairly level and open ridge. During most of the year I would not try this since hiking through the tall grass is almost more trouble than it is worth. However, each winter there is a period of a couple of months between the time that last season’s grasses fall over and the new growth begins during which one can hike almost anywhere along these open grassy ridges. So I explored, finally arriving at a trail fairly close to where I had started.
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January 21, 2007 - Posted by gdanmitchell | Trips