Weekly Bread #146

Some of you may remember the old Joni Mitchell song, “Both Sides Now.” Simply lovely and very wistful lyrics. This week, we climbed a mountain (Mount Burdell) from both sides. One trail, from the Open Space Preserve side is rocky fire roads, mainly through open grassland, where cattle graze during part of the year. The road to the top is particularly steep and rocky enough to be called “Cobblestone” fire road. This week, on Monday, we skipped the summit from that side, hating the downhill more than the climb. Slipping downhill on large loose rocks scares me, so we skipped the last half mile. We clocked 6 miles that day, doing a loop, if we’d gone to the top, it would have been a little over seven.

On Friday, we did the trail from the other side, from Olompali State Park. (We bought an annual pass to the CA state parks while we were down at Point Lobos and are putting it to good use). There was only one other car in the parking lot when we arrived at around 10 AM. The trail was easier to navigate, all single track with long gradual switchbacks. But it was long, almost 11 miles and took us over 5 hours. We saw no one else on the trail until we got back down and about a mile from the parking lot. The fire roads on the other side have lots of bikers and dog walkers, but both bikes and dogs are not allowed on trails in the state park. So much less steep, longer and quieter, but those weren’t the big differences. The new (for us) side of the mountain was more wooded, the vegetation more lush, and large flocks of birds startled from the trees and bushes we passed. There were some narrow spots on the trail with steep drop offs where my acrophobia kicked in, but the footing was solid and never slippery with loose rocks. The views were completely different too. We looked north toward the Petaluma river delta, and not east toward the bay. Same mountain, but not the same journey. There were picnic tables and a grassy area at the top too, a beautiful place to have some rest and lunch. We also found the livestock gate that led to the trails on the other side. With a car shuttle, someone could hike up one side and down the other.

There are many paths up the mountain. A metaphor for the diversity in the religions of the world, which all lead to enlightenment, at least if you don’t get lost along the way.

My weight came down this week. Downhills are harder for me than uphills.

L’Chaim!

My average weight this week is down 1.3 pounds for a total loss of 169.3.