El Capitan, San Diego, arguably the toughest and most attractive in the county and a sunrise from Woodson.

A view of Friday's peak from Woodson, two days later.



On Friday, ‘it was the best of times, the worst of times’. Being the first day of 2016, we experienced our best
and worst hike, longest and shortest…of the year. Truth be told, it's the toughest in San Diego—certainly the most
brutal we have come across in the County. We make a point of undertaking this 4,100 feet cumulative elevation gain
hike over a twelve-mile distance, at least annually. It also proves to be one of the beautiful spots in San Diego
in which to see numerous mountains, valleys as well as the Pacific Ocean, Coronado Bay, the downtown area, lakes
and by the time of return, maybe even ‘stars in the head’.

Things began well for us as we approached the base of the mountain from Highway 67. The Barona Casino has
two billboards displayed prominently. The one announces that we were approaching the happiest casino in
the world. How does one decide a casino is happy? It’s puzzling. Furthermore, most people we see leaving
casinos are usually tired, red-eyed and poorer. Happy? As we were only bypassing, we felt happy and excited
by the prospect ahead.

The second sign was even more interesting. It read, “We have the loosest slots of all”. We were puzzled again
because we thought maybe they meant ‘sluts’ but as we don’t spend time with either sluts or in casinos, it’s
difficult for us to pass an opinion.


As we approach the trailhead towards the end of the day, downtown San Diego and Coronado Bay
are highlighted by the late sun.




From the peak, our view south towards Mexico with El Capitan Dam below.





Sunrise on Mount Woodson Peak.





Jen trudges up one of the many steep slopes, both out and back.





Perhaps the most puzzling of all was we realized we did not know where we were. In California, no gambling
of this nature is permitted—being of course a very pure and upright state. So how come one can gamble at Barona
and have a good time with some of the loosest sluts…slots in the country. Clearly, we could not be in California.
Of course, it came to us eventually: We were in an Indian area. We used to say Red Indians but now we are told
one has to say ‘Native Americans’. We recall when in South Africa many years before, the local Black people were
called ‘Natives’. This fell out of fashion although seems to be a fashionable term in America. Today in South Africa,
the appropriate terminology is: "Madam and Sir". What we believe we are certain of is that at least we are genuine
African-Americans. Are we confused or are we confused? Fortunately, we found the trailhead but still don’t know
what part of America we passed through.

That last phrase reminds us of our granddaughter, Ellie, who is my favorite female under sixty-four in the whole world.
I digress. We were on the ‘GagaButchie” the other day—one of the games we play which can be a bit of ‘rough and tumble’.
After a while, when things were getting pretty exciting, we said to both her and young Benjamin: “Are we having fun
or are we having fun?”

Her reply, showing intelligence far above her grandparents was, “I don’t know the difference between the two ‘funs’, Gaga-papa."
Out of the mouths of babes.




An overwhelming sight in a region stacked with mountains and valleys.




Back to Mount Woodson Peak for tranquility, beauty and an early morning chill.




Good rains provided growth and color between the thousands of boulders and rocks covering the region.





A 'bird's eye view from the summit.





Getting back to the hike, the local joke is that it’s uphill both ways. However, it’s not humorous as the trail has
many climbs on the way down, too. As any hiker knows, it can be disheartening to be climbing a mountain and gaining
elevation only to go down again, losing hard-earned gains. El Capitan will do that to you. It strikes us as being
one of those mountains that tests a person—a little cruel but a wonderful challenge and most rewarding.




Trying out a new yoga position at the top. Quite interesting as he has never done yoga before.
We call it Rocky 10 or is it 11?




Love the look as the editor strides down into the boulder-covered mountains. Walking down on
the way up.





For the Sunday following, I mentioned to a very tired and muscle-sore editor that the best thing to do after
an experience like El Capitan is to follow up with a shorter hike to warm up the muscles. I explained that
to avoid muscle atrophy, one should get out at 5:30am and climb a short but tough trail. Not one to miss anything,
she replied that she could ‘buy’ my nonsense but why do the muscles need the exercise at 5:30am? Looks like I’ll
have to wake up even earlier to outsmart her.



A Big Sky (not in Montana) showing El Capitan along the horizon.




Cheers,

Jenni and Jeffrey




Time to leave as the winter sun blinds the eyes.