Lazarow World-Hike-About

Mount Woodson peak in the clear; the valleys covered in cloud...like a fairy land. We're on vacation after a high-exertion Hike-about 23. We continue to exercise and undertake a hike or two but the tempo is far more relaxed. No doubt that once we get back into equilibrium, it will be time to increase the pace which will bring us to Hike-about 24. Where we capture scenes that we consider meaningful or worthy, we'll continue to post them to the blog. Our early morning visit to Mount Woodson, a place we hike frequently, provided scenes we found unique, hence this blog. A week before, we undertook the same hike on a day in which the sky was cloudless. Although the exercise was invigorating, the high temperature, even in the very early morning as well as an absence of mist and fog together with dry flora, made the visuals quite dull. Scroll forward a week and we believe we saw some of the finest sights in San Diego County. It gets back to something we have said ad na...

Jen makes her way around the cliff to position herself to reach above upper lake. 'Be careful, my Jen, you haven't prepared our dinner yet.' And this concludes a 7-week trip to Spain and Andorra including a walk into Gibraltar to pay our respects to a rock , two walks into France from Andorra, one from Spain and a walk from the Principality to the Spanish border, all but Gibraltar, crossing the Pyrenees Mountain range. We have the great fortune, at least so far, to find that each trip seems to exceed the joy of the previous one. On the other hand, it might be that we have memory lapses or selective memories. Whatever the case, our hope is that this exciting trend continues. From lakes to snow fields within minutes. A person can swim or ski in the same region. We elected neither having not brought swimsuits or skis. Another ski station, another massive mountain—in the early stages of the Percelena hike. The three Tristaina Lakes, glacial lakes...

An uncertain Editor: One foot in Andorra, the other Franca. What to do? “Guess what?” Our editor began the conversation quiz-like. “Okay, I won’t keep you in suspense. We’re out of fries.” “Oh no! You’re not thinking France again?” “Yep. However, this time we are in Andorra and so we call it Franca.” “Big deal. France seems to be all over the place. We hiked into it from Spain, got close to the north-eastern border last week from Andorra and I suppose you’re thinking of the northern border this time. You’re becoming a right Francophone these days.” “Yes, indeed. We’ll leave from Sorteny National Park, head north, climb over the separating mountains and go down on the other side, entering Franca just before Lac Blau (Bleu). All-in-all, it will amount to 2,500 feet elevation gain and more than 7 miles, not too bad this time. The lake is positioned at an altitude of 8,000 feet, give or take a few inches. We will enter France at Port Siguer. Fear not. Nobody will be a...

Some flowers and tame pansy bring color into the wilds, heading down to refugi from earlier peak. From the peak, France and Spain behind, Andorra to the west (directly ahead). The 'kid' peaks and is surprised after quite a trip upwards. Notes from Andorra follow. The blog before the previous dealt with parking difficulties in the Principality. Notwithstanding the parking issues, we were due to be in the country for 8 days. However, we extended this by shortening our stay in Barcelona considerably. We also found a another parish to move to in order to provide a different environment, certainly a quieter one. We are getting ready to move between parishes after our first rainy day in Andorra. As we mentioned, the rain soaked us silly including backpacks and contents therein. Naturally, on a day such as we experienced, without a burning sun to dry out the clothes and other items, we were stuck or at least, wet. Normally, should we have access to a washin...