Mt. Lowe / Echo Mt. Hike...One down...

Two Sunday's ago marked our first real hike of our training period. You might call this a warm up hike. We were doing an in and back hike, up Echo Mt. to the old Mt. Lowe Railroad Station where sits the ruins of a classic hotel get away for the rich and famous during the early 1900's. this old hotel was dubbed the "White City".

Our day started at 9 am, as Elizabeth and I meet Jen, her brother Dave, and his brother in law Jason, at the front gates of the old Cobb Estate. This old historical site is where we began our hike towards the White City.

We made quick pace up the trail, using the time to catch up with the details of everyone's lives. I think the most fun topic we talked about was Dave's son's obsession with trash trucks and the department of waste management. :-)

We stopped about half way up the trail to take a break and enjoy the view. We then continued on and pushed to out goal.

There were about 25 people sitting around the Old Mt. Lowe Railroad station, eating lunch and swaping hiking stories. We took a few snap shots and grabbed a quick snack. We all took our turns at shouting as loud as we could toward the north end of the Peak, listening for our echo's.

After 20 mins of exploring the old ruins, we decided to make our way back down the trail. We made good time. As we approached the end of the regular trail, we spotted something moving on the nearby hillside. It was 3 dear. 2 Adults and a baby. Unaware of the hikers nearby, the slowly grazed under a shady tree.

On the way down, we spotted what looked like an old tin building on the other side of the canyon. We made our way down to the main road then back up to this odd building. It was some kind of water reserve tank.

We headed back to the car. Now it was the most important decision of the day; Where to go eat lunch? We decided to try our hand at the local Rosco's Chicken And Waffles, on Lake Ave, in Pasadena.

We waited for about 20 mins before we were let in to a packed Rosco's. We all orders the Sco's Combo of some nature of another, and chowed down on some delectable chicken and the best waffles I have ever tasted.

After lunch we all said our goodbye's, all looking forward to our next trip.

Cross Training... San Gabriel River Ride!

This past Saturday, Jen, Liz and myself decided to pack up the bikes and head to the mouth of Azusa Canyon and hop on the San Gabriel River trail.

The San Gabriel River trail extends 38 miles starting at a Ranger Station at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains and ending at the Pacific Ocean (Seal Beach). There are two very scenic secondary trails that branch off near the river trail midpoint (Whittier Narrows area); one that visits Legg Lake and a second (Rio Hondo) ending up at a reservoir north of El Monte.

We started out on our ride around 10 am. It was pretty cold outside, but the whole week so far had been cold and then the sun would come out and it would warm up. This was not the case that day. It was cold and stayed cold.

About 5 miles into our ride, Jen started to break out with some weird allergic reaction. We still dont know what it was from.

We ended up riding down to where the 605 Freeway meets with Telegraph Rd., 20 miles down trail. It took us about 2 hours. We then exited bike path to find a nice spot to eat some lunch, catch our breath and then begin the journey back.

While we were stopped we all took turns sneaking into the local Jack in the Box to use their bathroom. After that we settled in at a little picnic area in between some local shops. Liz and I ate our sub sandwiches, and looked at Jen with dismay as we found out all she had packed for the whole trip was a single PBJ. She quickly realized that it wouldn't be enough food for her.

Jen decided to stop into a local market called "Jax's Market". It was a Mexican mart, where no one spoke english. She came out with a whole bag of Pan Dulce. 3 for a Dollar. She was very exited. Turns out that pan dulce was not a staple for her growing up. Guess I took that for granted growing up in Pomona. We all had a piece or 2 before we dragged our bike-seat chaffed butts back onto our bikes and headed back towards Azusa.

10 miles before the finish line, it started to rain on us. We thought we were cold before. Now were cold, soaked and tired. We eventually made out way back to our cars, only to find out that the park workers had locked the park gate, trapping us inside the parking lot. We had to call the sherrif's Dept to come let us out.

Other than a few minor set backs, the bike trip was a success. Maybe next time we will do the whole 76 mile trail ride, but for that day, 41 miles was as good as it was going to get.