Into the Woods

Over the holidays, my mom and I went to go see the movie, "Wild" and while I thought it to be a semi-decent movie (or the female version of Tom Hanks' Cast Away) it did get me thinking about how much I would like to become one with nature again. Reese Witherspoon, playing Cheryl Strayed, made that long walk across the West Coast look incredibly easy. I left the movie thinking to myself, "Yes. Yes I could do that. And one day I will do that."  By myself even.

Take that Cheryl Strayed.

I figured that if I was going to make good on my newest venture, I better start training. Cue: a quick trip to Big Sur. 

The weather down there has been absolutely gorgeous, so I woke up early, packed my car and headed out to the unknown (or the incredibly well traveled path, but whatever). 

I'm so glad that I left early because it was really busy by the time I got down there; however I could not have gone down there on a better day. It was sunny, blue skies, with just enough clouds to make the sky interesting and 80 degrees. I have live in the Bay area for over six years now, but I rarely go down there. I can't believe I've been missing out on this beautiful place. The shoreline and cliffs were just amazing. It really reminded me of my time in Ireland. Minus the rain.

Before I went down there, I had a little bit of a plan as to what I wanted to do. Hiking (won't become Strayed by just driving around), visiting beaches, and getting to see a little bit of the state that I haven't been to yet. Turns out the January tends to be the time when everything is getting renovated. The one downside to it not being tourist season. So a few of  the places I wanted to go to were not opened. Sadly. 

Oh well, just another reason to go back down there someday.

I have picked a hike out that I had read about online. Near Big Sur. The reviewer had said that it was an easy hike; something anyone can do.

So I figured it was the perfect one for me to start my new adventure on.

I was wrong. The hike wasn't well marked. It was in a beautiful part of the woods. Redwood trees were all over and the smell of the clean outdoors was amazing.

 But after about a half-hour of walking around, I felt a little bit lost.

And I began to have visions in my head of getting lost in the woods and ending up on the evening news. All I had was small bag of goldfish and a bottle water (I had actually packed more for the hike, but to be honest, I ate it on the drive down.)

So, I threw in the towel a bit earlier than I had expected. But it did give me the time to go check out another beach or two. I went to a national Park that was surrounded by the shoreline. There were a ton of whales around. I couldn't really see the actual whale, however, I did see a lot of the water plumes that they have, bursting from the horizon.

Nature is so cool.

Verdict: No, I do not think I could walk the entire Pacific Crest Trail by myself. I like the outdoors. But not that much.