Sabbath Hike

This morning we skipped out of church and took a hike up in our hills. It could not have been more clear or beautiful. Sam was in fine form, as you can see. We had not showered yet, and fervently hoped we didn't see anyone we knew out there. Sam had brought me a light breakfast in bed (an omelette with mango-tomato salsa on a corn tortilla), so we'd have some energy for the climb. In fact, it was just right.

We hiked up to Zanzar Peak, which is a high-flown name for a little prominence of probably 2000 feet that stands up behind the local community college. Until today, I didn't realize that there are miles of trails and hills in which anyone at all can hike. Our little Zanzar Peak is the size of a helicopter pad, and there are 360 degree views. The view below is looking east toard one of the "Four Saints," as they are known: San Jacinto, San Bernardino, San Antonio, and San Bernardino. This one is Mt. San Bernardino, which I'm proud to say, I've climbed (back in the dark ages).

Here is Sam is looking west toward snow-capped Mt. San Antonio (AKA, Mt. Baldy) with parts of San Bernardino, Highland, and Redlands in the foreground.

At the top of our little hike, we stopped and looked in all directions for about 30 minutes. It was well worth the climb and we were so happy that we took the time to do this. It could not have been a more gorgeous day. Had we been on the top of Mt. Baden-Powell, we could have seen all the way to Catalina Island in the Pacific Ocean, and all the way to Mt. San Jacinto, right over Palm Springs (I've had the pleasure of doing that several times).

It's fair to say that we've been bitten by the climbing bug. We want to start climbing the beautiful "real" mountains around us: Mt. Baldy at 10,064 feet; San Gorgonio at 11,502 feet; San Jacinto at 10,839 feet; Mt. Baden-Powell (AKA, the Boy Scout Mountain) at 9,399; and Whitney at 14,505. Why not? If we hike every weekend, we should be able to climb one of these big mountains in the not too distant future.

All in all, we were pretty pleased with ourselves. Our knees didn't bother us, the shortness of breath wasn't too bad, our legs didn't hurt, and we never got dizzy. For two middle-aged people who want to stay young, this might be a promising venture. Mountains, here we come!