The Hike that Almost Killed Me! September 26, 2010

As you all know we've had some extremely hot weather here in Nor Cal lately.

My mother bought us a book titled "Day Hikes Around Big Sur".  It contains 80 day hikes in the Big Sur area.  Scott is determined to do every hike in the book.  Lately he has especially been determined to complete one hike in Andrew Molera State Park.

So last Sunday we set off.  The temps in San Jose were in the 90's and the temps in Big Sur were in the 80's. Not knowing this, I dressed for cooler weather that is usually prominent along the coast.

The trail was not a very scenic one to say the least.  It was littered with coyote poop as well, so I kept my eyes peeled for the little critters.  After about a mile we finally made it to the beach.  The beach was littered with driftwood, which can be pretty and horse poop - not so pretty.

Then we set off on the bluff trail.  With the hot afternoon sun absolutely baking me in my black long sleeve shirt I was soon wondering if a heat stroke was next.

The climbing up to the trail aggravated the groin injury I received the weekend before at Limekiln Park so the rest of the hike hurt with every step.

We encountered several bunnies along the trail, which explained the great amount of coyote poop along the trails.

We finally made it to the end of our hike (the goal being to get to a secluded beach), only to realize we had to climb over a ginormous pile of downed trees.  It turned out to be easy enough to scramble over the top of them.  It was right before we got here I felt faint from the heat and had to stop for cold water we were for once smart enough to bring.

Alas, we made it to the secluded beach, which was beautiful, BUT the sun was setting fast and the tide was coming in even faster.  Our original plan to walk back on the beach was not looking very good and a little dangerous!

This was not one long stretch of beach..heavens no!  We don't have those in Nor Cal.  In Nor Cal, we have rocks and lots of them!.  Our plan now was to wait until the waves were out then try to run around the outlying rocks to get to the next beach section.  Sometimes waiting was just not an option, we had to go up and over then jump down.  (Did I mention that my previous injury started hurting about 2 hours ago).

Look to the far right upper corner in the photo above, see the rock mountains, surrounded by water...that's what we had to make it around.  Fortunately for us, we only had to do this about 3 different times.

We finally made it back to our trail head where we could now walk the one more mile to the car!  At least we had flash lights this time.  Also by this time it hurt every time I lifted my leg..even just a little...

The trail back to the car in the dark was a little bit scary, remember all the coyote poop.  We thought we saw one one time but it turned out to be deer.. Thank goodness.  Little critters (unseen) kept us company along the way back, we could not see what was scurrying along in the bushes beside us..

Ahh..the truck..we stopped for dinner in Monterey at 10 minutes until 10:00pm.  We were muddy, sandy and wet but they were nice enough to let us in.  The Chart House is a great restaurant that sits on the water with terrific views.

During out dinner we watched the calamari boats as they fished in the Monterey Bay. 

A cold beer hit the spot after such a long hot adventurous day. 

I absolutely love the lobster and shrimp rolls.  I could make an entire dinner out of them. 

Scott enjoyed an appetizer of coconut shrimp.

And finally my reward - Alaskan King Crab Legs!!!

Stuffed and tired we made it home around midnight.  Scott looked it up the next day and we hiked about a total of 6 miles.  Doesn't sound like much but add our adventure of 9 hours..and it's a lot.

We can now mark this damn trail off in the book!!! And I realized I really need to get in shape!