Lazarow World-Hike-About

In the beginning--destination behind A view from the destination--a spectacular place (Don't forget to click on pictures to enlarge) Editor trudging upwards but with vigor after leaving dense forest Jenni 'snaking' her way down this very steep trail towards the ocean “It happened in Monterey”, so goes the song. This is another beautiful region in California, which we are visiting for the third time in a couple of years. Many more times, we hope. “No way we’re going on a Harry Potter hike,” we said to our editor assertively. ‘Don’t be so silly,’ she laughed, ‘I said Garrapata’. “Oh!” We keep noticing there’s not a lot of bliss in ignorance. The notice board at the entrance read: ‘The most beautiful place on earth’. Ha! Where have we seen that before? We were not being cynical but San Diego has ‘the finest’, New York the ‘tallest’, Miami the ‘widest’. You get the point. After hiking through the forest, crossing the river a number of times, casting our eyes on the...

Sunday We suggest you click on pictures followed by the 'back' button As we entered the forest, we turned to face this scene Coastal views are incredible although we cannot find any water It seems like the last few days, besides being exhilarating and extremely satisfying, have involved a few snake encounters. Contrary to popular lore among the snake community, we have no desire to befriend or make enemies with it. We’ll tell you later about today’s experience. After five nights in Morro Bay, we left the gray skies of this wonderful little town and headed north. We debated whether we would in fact stay another night or continue moving. We are already three days behind. “What’s the rush?” We asked our editor. ‘At this rate, we won’t get to Oregon and even Yosemite is looking suspect,’ she informed us. “Hmm! That bad. Perhaps we should leave now,” we agreed. We found an incredible hike for today—rated difficult with the highest level of beauty. Our editor checked the int...

Valancia Peak coming into view as we approach Oats Peak--Valley filled with cloud and mist-west view Oats Peak-east view Two snakes, one fox, a fortune of lizards but no grizzlies . That counts as a ‘win’ for us, especially our dear editor. When growing up, she obviously never got to know Winnie the Pooh intimately. We set off in deep mist wondering what we would be able to view along the way and particularly, at the peaks. ‘Mist,’ our editor informed us. What would we do without her well-rounded knowledge and information. Mountain tops protruding above mist The hike was amazing. The weather was cool. The visibility was limited in the beginning. However, we were invigorated. We moved up to the first peak of some 1400 feet quite quickly. Thereafter, it was on to the next two peaks, which involved a drop of 500 feet and of course, a climb again to a higher altitude. All in all, we gained well over 2,000 feet in our eight-mile round-trip. The clouds, the mist, the sheer beauty—...

Destination--Peak behind A nice, solitary moment with the Bishop “We cannot miss this local hike, up and down the 1200 feet morro, can we?” our editor mentioned. ‘Of course not,’ we replied. However, we both knew that was only half an answer. Truth be told, it’s the bouldering at the peak that counts—that gets the juices flowing. Of course, it's where the danger lies so we take extra care when maneuvering on the boulders. We are reminded harshly when we see a memorial on the peak to a deceased youngster who was not careful enough. Our minds don’t need plodding—they are very good in sensing danger. Most of the hikers are locals at Bishops and just like us, ‘mere youngsters’. Many are college students, exuberant and athletic. We notice that the young men like to remove their tops and either show off their manly builds or tan their skin. We don’t know which or maybe it’s both. We asked of our editor whether we should get with the program and remove our shirt, too. After all, o...

"There are no easy mountains or morros" From the peak, looking at the cloud covered ocean Jen on the ridge ...Always worth clicking on picture “Can you see the rock?” we asked our lovely editor. ‘On the morrow, probably,’ she replied. “We know it’s called a morro—please don’t be so smart.” ‘I’m not. Well…maybe just a little ahead of you. With the thick mist-covering, we may have to wait until tomorrow to see it.’ She is far too quick for us. Anyway, we will focus on the ‘physical’ as our brain is less agile than the body. (We don’t mean to imply the body is that supple either). We mentioned how quaint this town is in yesterday’s narrative. Well today, it’s still lovely. Some things never change. We set out in warm clothes as the temperature at 'the Bay' was only in the sixties. A mere 7 miles inland, we began our climb of about 1700 feet in temperatures that reached into the nineties. It is a wonderful hike but the sweat dripped everywhere, especially in...