Thursday, March 20, 2014

Potato Chip Rock

This morning Ryan and I took mom out for a hike.

A couple weeks ago I had a great idea. I figured instead of biking for my cross-training day (which is normally on Thursdays) we could go for a hike. I called my mom and asked if she would be down for it and she said she was actually hoping we would go for a hike while she was out visiting. I remember the last time Ryan and I hiked the Mt. Woodson Trail she mentioned she wanted to hike it the next time she was out - PERFECT.

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Ryan took the day off (since he flies out this evening for Barbados). We decided we would try to shoot to leave the house by 7:15am. It takes about 45 minutes to get to the Lake Poway where the trail is located and I wanted to make sure we got started before the heat got too bad. Ryan wasn't feeling 100% (raspy throat and a bit phlegmy) but he still came with us {we are hoping he was able to sweat out whatever he might have had}.

My mom has a bad hip (osteoporosis) and exercise induced asthma, but we still tackled the challenge head on. We didn't stop for many pictures along the way, but did get a shot of the three of us together at one of the rest areas.


The hike is pretty intense, but we made sure to take it slow for madre - with lots of water breaks and chances to take in the surroundings.


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Of course the "point" of the hike is to make it to the Potato Chip Rock and take pictures. I mean if you are hiking up the mountain, you gotta get proof, right?!

Grabbed a shot with no one on the rock

We were surprised there were still quite a few folks up there when we got to the top, especially for being a week day. There was a big group (probably 12 folks), and then maybe two other groups ahead of us. While mom and I were waiting to get "over" to the rock Ryan grabbed this picture.

Yes, you have to jump the little ravine and then scoot on your booty to get down :)

When it was our turn, mom jumped over first and took a couple shots on her own and then I joined her.






Ryan wanted a couple pictures so he got in line as well.




My Garmin had us right about 7 miles (I forgot to start it when we got out of the car, so it was probably closer to about 7.25 miles or so). I didn't stop the watch at all on our trek. We probably waited for about a half hour up at the Potato Chip Rock for waiting for our pictures (but no one was complaining :)). I would say it probably took us about two hours to get to the top and then an hour to get down (you are really cruisin' on the way down, but you do have to watch your footing with all the rocks, sand, and gravel).


Like Mom said, "This is the way I RELAX with the Cali Kids".

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