Hiking Adventures: PREPARING TO NOT DIE ON THE WEST HIGHLAND WAY

          You know when you make the right decision everything just sorta falls into place and it seems almost too easy? That's been me for exactly *counts* 3 weeks now. The day before New Years Eve I wrote out goals I wanted to achieve this year. Goals I know I could achieve. The one I was most excited about was my goal to get in shape to do the 5-7 day through hiking trail in Scotland known as the West Highland Way.

        After I decided to make this my goal I got a call THAT. DAY. from my dad asking if I'd like to go hiking--so of course I had to say yes. And the trail was beautiful. And more importantly, I didn't die. It also reminded me that I wasn't as out of shape as I thought I was (my bathroom scale would beg to disagree).

          Now, when I do the West Highland Way I'll most likely be going it alone because I honestly don't know anyone crazy like me who would be willing to wild camp (aka, basically normal camping in America?) in a place known for rain. And Highland Cows. And fairies that would like to hunt you down and eat you for fun. And also more rain. But that's my goal! To reach my very ambitious goal of going-to-another-country-and-trekking-the-wilds-with-only-what-I-can-carry-on-my-back I realized I need to make smaller goals. I needed to train, to get more fit (I'd laugh but I'm crying), and to become even better at zombie survival skills to take this trail on solo.

          Which leads me to today's first official 'preparing not to die on the West Highland way' blog post! I figured the best way to get in shape for a hike was to, well, hike! And that's where this journey really begins. So until I'm fit enough (okay, and rich enough) to go to Scotland and traverse the West Highland Way, I need to get hiking and more solo camping experiences under my belt.

          So that's what I did last weekend! I hiked! I also dragged reached out and got my mom and another sacrifice--I mean friend--to join me on my hiking adventure, who both said yes when I expected them to say no. So clearly, the universe was telling me I was doing the right thing. So if you'd like to join me on this journey, please do! And if you have through hiking experience (or solo girl camping experience) please do so in the comments below, because I could use all the pointers I can get!

         And now that we've got that very long winded explanation out of the way, please enjoy these pretty pictures as I take you on the 4 mile (in total) hike I did!

HIKE #1: MAPLE SPRINGS, SILVERADO CANYON, CALIFORNIA
(In Which a Katie Doesn't Die & Makes Really Yummy Granola Bars)

          *Insert cheerful music that will remind you of better days* The day for hiking dawned clear and bright. Or at least I assume it did as I didn't get up until 10 am after getting perhaps 4 hours of sleep due to my insomnia but also excitement. I dragged myself from my bed, pulled on my hiking clothes, and was getting my shoes on just in time for my friend Leeanne to arrive at the door much more bright eyed and bushy tailed than me.

          I chugged my tea, slung all of my homemade granola bars (I'll write another post with the recipe for it) into my mom's back pack--I really need to get one--and we were off!

          To get to Maple Springs, you need to go through the beautiful place in the world. It's called Silverado Canyon Road and in the span of one traffic light you go from civilization to breathtaking nature. Once you've marveled that such a place exists to turn left and go up and down a winding road deep into Canyon Country. Which, fun fact, is what I grew up in the first 8 years of my life (but it was the canyon over, in Modjeska, not Silverado). It looks something like this:

TURN LEFT, BUT BE FAST, PEOPLE WON'T SLOW DOWN FOR YOU. IT'S MAD MAX OUT HERE

THAT SPEED LIMIT IS A SUGGESTION. (probably)

GOING UP A WINDY ROAD. SEE THAT MOUNTAIN RANGE? YOU'RE HEADING TOWARDS THAT

Once you've made it down a winding road and past a horse stables and cute cabin houses you'll come across a wonderful local diner called: 

IT'S CALLED 'THE SILVERADO CAFE' FOR THOSE WHO CAN'T READ HALF CUT OFF WORDS. (I'm disappointed in you if you couldn't. What kind of reader are you?)

        The inside of the Cafe is everything you could want in a mountain community. Interesting locals, ravenous hikers/backpackers,nothing fussy or fancy, and the smell of good diner food and cheerful voices. We stopped here to eat their REALLY yummy potato tacos (I know, it sounds weird. But I swear to the food gods above it's amazing!). Unfortunately for all of us the kitchen was backed up with only 2 cooks and 50 extremely hungry people. What was supposed to be a quick snack became an hour of me wondering if I could feasibly nibble on my friend without her noticing while we waited. But right when I went to dive for her hand the food arrived and it was just as good as I remembered it from last time. Tacos save the day again!

There's a bar to the left you can eat at.

MY MOM! AND YOU CAN'T SEE THEM, BUT THERE'S BACKPACKERS AROUND THE CORNER

IT'S NOT A COUNTRY DINER UNLESS YOU HAVE GREAT SIGNS UP LIKE THIS

 

POTATO TACO AND THE BEST RICE AND BEANS EVER.

          Now, before we leave the diner let me give you a tried and true tip about Mexican food. If the refried beans are bad (sometimes you get them before your main meal) it means the rest of the food is going to be awful. I don't make the rules, I just follow them. But learn from my years of experience. If the beans are bad, RUN.

          After our tacos we drove 5 miles deeper into the canyon, passing adorable old cabins--each with their own character and story. It's adorable (and where I want to live if I can't move back to Modjeska Canyon) and woodsy and everyone knows everyone--and everything. But we didn't stop for the town gossip. The road dead ends (kinda) at Maple Springs trail, which was our destination! Now, depending on the time of year they'll open the road to off road vehicles. Today was one such day. But we didn't care! WE'D MADE IT!

           We parked our car (you need an Adventure Pass to park, you can buy it at the general store that's on the opposite side of the Silverado Cafe parking lot) took a selfie like the good Millennials we were, checked the ranger board for our trail and any news about how high of a risk it was that day to be eaten by mountain lions (low) or get bitten by a rattlesnake (also very low), and started on our 4 mile hike safe in the knowledge we'd probably come back alive and intact!

SEE OUR BEANIES? I KNITTED THEM! IF YOU JOIN MY HIKING CREW, YOU GET A HAND KNIT BEANIE!

MOUNTAIN LION THREAT LEVEL: "YOU ARE NOT A SNACK TODAY"

I ACTUALLY REALLY LOVE MOUNTAIN LIONS. 

          As is often the case with beautiful scenery, words--and even pictures--can't always do justice to how beautiful nature is. The mountains surround you on both sides, dressed in California Live Oaks, brush, and crowned in boulders. If you look up from the path or from the babbling creek that follows you, you'll get a sense for just how very small you are in the great big world. Of how old the mountains and trees are--and the silly, sad, and joyful things they've silently watched humans with our short life spans accomplish. Nature can often remind you of just how little you are.

THE BEANIE CREW!

          Now, thanks to a bunch of rain, the road required us to do some water crossing as the creeks had overflowed a bit. I personally had a ton of fun doing these crossing, my mom...not so much. That's what happens when you wear the wrong shoes. But I got my hiking shoes the last time I was in Ireland, so they were up to the challenge of mere streams! The water was clear and pure and if I didn't know that animals probably drank/peed/died in it, I would have given it a quick sip. But I like living, so I just stuck my hand in and marveled how silky smooth and cold it was.

          We also stopped to snack on my granola bars I made and can I just say--THEY'RE AWESOME. I really need to make them a bit more sticky next time but other than that the taste was fantastic and if I hadn't just stuffed my face with tacos and rice, I would have eaten more of it!

ONE OF THREE CREEK-ROAD CROSSINGS!

LEEANNE MADE IT SAFELY ACROSS THIS TREACHEROUS RIVER

SO MUCH WATER. THIS IS UNHEARD OF IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA AND WE LOVE IT SO MUCH

LOOK HOW CLEAR IT IS. YOU'D NEVER KNOW THAT A DEER PROBABLY PEED IN IT!

LEEANNE, BEING A SERIOUS PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE ONE THING WE NEVER HAVE ENOUGH OF. PHOTOS OF WATER IN CALIFORNIA

         This hike isn't hard. The road basically goes up at consistent but gentle incline the entire way with a few small hills here and there (not hard at all) to liven it up. It's not a hard trail, and honestly if we weren't losing daylight I could have easily walked four more miles, I was feeling that good! I'm going to do this trail again, but I want to take it all the way to a mountain peak (the trail leads to two different ones) once I'm a bit more in shape. But sadly we had to say goodbye to the beautiful trail (and the beautiful weather)

           And for those of you who are like me and love plant life and herbalism here's some fun up-close shots of nature and herbs that the Native American tribes here used for sacred ceremonies and medicine!

WHITE SAGE. IT'S USED IN CEREMONIES AND THE LEAVES ARE MADE INTO A TEA TO BE DRUNK TO HELP SORE THROATS. THE LEAVES ARE GREEN WHEN NEW, AND TURN WHITE AS THEY DRY UP. THEY'RE EXTREMELY SOFT/SILKY FEELING.

SWEET SAGE, BLOOMING OUT. IT ALWAYS GROWS NEAR/NEXT TO WHITE SAGE. I'M NOT SURE WHAT THE MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF IT ARE. WHEN NOT IN BLOOM IT'S NEEDLES ARE LIGHT GREEN AND SMELL HEAVENLY SWEET AND EARTHY

          And that was it! That was my very first hike that I took that leads me a step closer to being fit enough to take on the West Highland Way in Scotland!

          For my next adventure I'm going solo camping this weekend (January 18th) for a two day, one night excursion and hiking in my local national park called O'Neil park! It's got lots of hiking and the campgrounds are really nice too! If there's one nice thing about California it's that we have a  LOT of national parks! I'll be filming it so I hope you enjoy it! My strategy is to blog about my hikes, but video record my camping trips!

         Thank you all for joining me on this adventure (if you chose to)! If you're also doing hiking and blogging about it please let me know so I can check it out! I always love talking to people, so really, don't hesitate to leave a comment okay?

         Please enjoy these ladybugs I found hanging out on a bush while hiking. I was so busy staring at them I almost got left behind!

          I looked up what finding a ladybug symbolizes (because I'm that person) and I have to say...I'm really glad I saw them--and the meaning really does seem to be the universe telling me I'm doing the right thing!

 "The appearance of a Ladybug heralds a time of luck in which our wishes begin to be fulfilled. Higher goals and new heights are now possible. Worries begin to dissipate. New happiness comes about. This insect also cautions not to try to hard or go to fast to fulfill our dreams. Let things flow at their natural pace. In the due course of time, our wishes will all come true. Alternatively she could be signalling that you can leave your worries behind and that new happiness is on its way. This species of beetle signals you to to not be scared to live your own truth."