My weekend was a full one! On Friday after work, took the bus down to Hermosa Beach where they were hosting the AVP volleyball tour. Friday evening was the start of the festivities with a free concert by Ozomatli. They are such an energetic band...it was great!
After the concert I met up with friends at the Comedy & Magic Club...I think I am becoming a regular, and then went over to end the night at Hennessey's Tavern. They had a free drawing that evening and I ended up winning two passes to the Cuervo suite at the AVP tour for the next day.
Unfortunately, no one was available to go with me on Saturday and I knew I did not want to be out partying too late on Saturday, because I had planned a hiking trip on Sunday. So, my second plan was to try and get someone to take the tickets for themselves, but I could not find anyone who wanted them...so unfortunatley they went to waste. I had a day of panic on Saturday as I tried to go out and do some grocery shopping and my car would not turn over. I was so sad because I thought my car was on it's last legs. I was so close to also canceling the hike with friends the next day, but my hiking friend was kind enough to come all the way over and pick me up in the morning so I made the hike.
We headed up North to Altadena to hike the Dawn Mine Trail. The morning was misty and wet and seemed almost like rain. We hiked up the canyon from the parking lot and signed in at the beginning of the trail.
We did not have much of a view
There were a lot of plants that were in full bloom along the trail including a TON of poison oak that
we are all hoping we did not brush up against.
Here is pic of our crew that a couple of nice hikers took before they split from our pack and took a different fork in the trail
Our stop before we descended into the canyon was once a trolley stop for resort guests in the area. Now the train tracks have been paved over for a fire road, but they still had the covered bench stop.
As we descending into the canyon, the trail got a little more hairy...as in side of the cliff hairy.
Once we reached the mine, we stopped for lunch on the creek rocks and rested before we made our trek back through the creek bed. The area was still misty and rainy and the camera lens finally fogged over to the point where I could not take any good photos. :(
But, as we made our way down the creek trail, we finally came into the light.
Here we are traversing the rocks and doing a LOT of creek crossing.
At the end of the trail on the way back to our original starting point we finally go to see the view that we missed in the morning, we were SO happy that it was sunny on the way down instead of on the way up the canyon. :)
Seven miles round trip, it was a great hike! I did not even wake up with sore muscles...only one sore knee from climbing down all those creek bed rocks. Today, I went into work and then carpooled up to the valley to volunteer in a golf tournament as a witness on the green. It was four hours of sitting and watching people tee off. I wish I had remembered to bring a book or a card game or something to keep me occupied, because it was the longest four hours EVER. At least the sun was out and I was happy because my car started and seemed to be doing fine today....we will be taking it in to the mechanic anyway, but at least now I do not have to worry about towing it from the house.
