Got up pretty early to prep everything for the hike with Joe. Put in my water bottle and loaded some snacks in my pockets as well. I rode over to the cul de sac by the driving range near the mall, and Joe was already there. So we got our packs on and started out at 6:30, earlier than planned. It was overcast at the start, and we chatted for the first 2 miles or so on our way to the Bernardo Peak trail. Right before we turned onto this trail, it started to tilt up. The nature of the trail was generally to have steeper climbing sections followed by flatter places where we could recover or walk faster. As soon as the uphills started, I got out ahead of Joe, walking at my comfortable pace. Shoulders were fine, but I could feel the effects of carrying a 25 pound or so pack. The trail went by some nice houses before its grade increased around mile 3, and it was steeper all the way up to the top, at mile 3.8. When we got to the top, I broke out the camping burner and heated up water to make us some tea. It took us a little less than 2 hours to get to the top, including a couple of breaks of about 5 minutes or so. We chatted and rested at the top for about half an hour before packing everything back up and starting down. I thought that Joe would keep up with me more on the downhill, but he was having some gastric distress and that slowed him down a little. So we didn't take a break on the way back down. I waited for him to catch up several times, and we walked together between miles 6 and 7. Then I got ahead of him as I pushed to finish up. My shoulders were definitely feeling the strain near the end, legs were fine. We got back a little before 10:30, having come back down in about an hour and a half. I used my new trekking poles for the first time on the steeper uphill and downhill sections, and they worked fine. They are not super sturdy, so they're better for guiding my path than they are for leaning on. The full hike was 7.7 miles, and my moving time was right at 3 hours. When we backpack, I would love to limit the total daily hiking (i.e. moving) time to 6 hours or so. Leaving early and getting into camp with time to relax a little bit is highly desirable for me.
Total distance = 7.74 mi
Avg pace = 23:17/mi
Elapsed moving time = 3:00:29
Ann and the others were gone when I got home, so I chilled out for a bit, had something to eat, then made oatmeal cookies to take to the Brewskis event at Glen and Cathy Hopkins' house. I also bought some beer at Baron's to bring along and put it in the freezer to cool down. The Brewskis event was nicer than I thought it would be. I saw some old acquaintances, including Glen and Cathy, Glenn and Liz Haddick, Frank and Ilian Drogo, Jason Arbeiter, John Page, Fung Sun Fei, and Tim Carlin. I met and talked to Jeff Zampell's parents, Carol and Rick, both of whom worked at HP. They are nice folks. Also chatted for some time with Guillermo Yanez, who is one of the retirement activity board leaders. Charles Keith was there, he's a little odd, plays Uncle Sam in the Poway July Fourth celebrations and is a little obsessed with taking and printing pictures. Avi was there as well, we talked for just a bit with Ruth Childers, Win's wife. I left as the party was getting bigger to get home and head over to Cruisin' Grand with Ann, Kathy, and Heather. I was pretty tired by then, but we walked slowly, and it was a low-effort event.
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