Windy & Cold at El Moro

Saturday, May 22, 2010 ~ As always Patti and I really look forward to the weekends so we can go hiking and log some miles. I had a blister on my heel so we walked only 11 miles each day instead of the 13 or 14 miles we usually like to do. It was nice to take a break. We actually got to hike a new trail called, Elevators. They call it Elevators, coz it’s like you’re hiking down a stone wall. A rope would have been nice to have on this part of the trail. We only have one more small part of a trail to hike, then Patti and I have hiked all the trails at El Moro.

Towards the end of our Saturday hike we ran across a gopher snake, which I was able to catch. Patti of course put about 25 yards between me, the snake and her. About that time these two girls walked up, and one of them asked if she could hold the snake so her friend could take a picture. I handed her the snake and told her to hold him behind his head, so she did, until the snake pulled his head away from her grip and then she tossed the snake behind her and it landed right at Patti’s feet. Yeap, Patti let out a little scream and ran one way and the snake took off another way. It was a perfect ending to our hike.

On Sunday, we invited a lot of friends to come with us, but only AJ showed up. When Patti and I first arrived at El Moro the weather was awful. The cloud cover was blocking out the sun. It was really windy and cold too. We had to wait about 15 minutes for AJ to show up, and by the time she got there the cloud cover went away and it was sunny, but the cold wind ended up staying with us the whole day.

We went up Moro Ridge we then headed left down Sommer Ridge, took another left on, Slow ‘N Easy, and that runs into El Moro Canyon. Patti and I really like this trail even though it’s 3 or 4 miles shorter then we like to go. It was AJ’s first time through the canyon, and she liked it very much. Once we got into the oak trees I asked the girls to stop so I could take a picture, well, AJ looked to her left and saw a bush move, having seen a snake on the side of the trail a few miles back, AJ was a bit jumpy, and screamed, and that made Patti scream and they both jumped in the air, once they both saw it wasn’t a snake, Patti started hitting AJ for making her scared. Very funny stuff!

We had a nice hike through the canyon, once we got out of the trees, and back into the sunlight, I noticed a snake going across the trail, first made sure it wasn’t a rattlesnake, then I grabbed it by the tail and was able to get my hand behind his head so the snake would stop trying to bite me. Patti came and got the camera from me to take the attached pix. I think that was the closest Patti has ever came to a snake on purpose. About two months ago Patti walked within a foot of a rattlesnake, both Patti and the rattler jumped at the same time. Lucky for Patti the rattlesnake jumped right back into the sagebrush, and Patti ran about 100 years back down the trail.

All in all it was a great weekend, we ended both hikes with a sandwich from Gallo's in Corona del Mar overlooking Newport Harbor. We both wished it would have been warmer, and I wished I didn’t have the big blister on my heel, but oh well. Next weekend is Memorial Day, weekend! Patti and I are going to start off the weekend with a hike at Holy Jim Canyon. I haven’t been there for years, but we think it would be nice to try some other places. We’re going to try and hike 50 miles in those three days. I am sure we’ll be able to do it. Hopefully the 2 inch blister on my heel will be healed up by then.