Several hikes to report

I cannot believe it has been almost a week since my last post. I guess I have been concentrating on some computer problems - which distracted me from POSTING, but not HIKING!

Since my last post, I have done Hostetter to Verdugo Peak twice more - I guess that is my fallback hike, when I cannot think of what to do - but I also rediscovered a hill I had done partially, a long time ago - the trail starting at Edmore St. in Sun Valley, and going up the same Verdugo Motorway that extends all the way to Verdugo Peak, and then down to Beaudry, the other end of the Verdugo Mountains, in Glendale.

I had climbed from the Edmore trail head probably a year ago - and I wanted to do a quick hike this past Thursday - I figured I had about 2 hours before I had some other things I needed to do. I remembered the trail as fairly steep, so I thought it would be a good, quick, tough hike. And it was - but I managed to go further in one hour outbound, than I had in a somewhat longer time last year. (I had been geocaching last year, so that may have slowed me down. But I am also in better shape, now.)

As a matter of fact, at the end of an hour, I found myself at the picnic table above the Stough Nature Center in Burbank. I had been up there many times before, from the Burbank side - it's a great spot - and I knew the trail from there led to Edmore - but I thought of it as a long way off. So it was really surprising to find myself standing there.

One reason it was so surprising is that it was very foggy and damp - and I did not really know where I was - did not see any landmarks - until I reached a high spot just as my time ran out - then I saw a bench on the trail that looked familiar - one of the benches from the Burbank Rotary Club (Thank you, Rotarians!). So I figured out where I was - turned around - and there was the picnic table! It is off the trail a few feet.

Anyway, since my time was up, I turned around and headed back.

I did the same hike this morning - had the same fog and cold - used my GPS this time - 5.9 miles in 2 1/4 hours - which was actually a little slower than 2 days ago - about 2.1 hours. But I guess I stayed longer at the top - at the picnic table - this time - ate some trail mix, drank some water - put on a shirt for a little warmth, and headed down.

I was glad I had not just wimped out this morning, and skipped the hike!