I've taken many a face plant on the ski slopes but never before have I faced one while hiking on a civilized city trail.
It was last weekend in Mountain View, Calif., where I was joined by old AP fellow worker Rod Angov for a casual walk. At least it started out casual.
The trail is a beauty, not particularly demanding but following a dried up creek bed, crossing over I-280 and winding back to Castro Street, where restaurants are cheek to jowl. Lots of money spent on this Silicon Valley path.
We were fast walking along when I suddenly began falling forward and landed on my hands and knees. Then all the way down with my face planted in the mulch. No idea what happened and I was dazed for a moment but then climbed up with Rod's assistance. I sat on a bridge pylon for a minute and then continued the walk. No after effects, nothing unusual.
Rod did say that he had noticed that I was leaning more and more forward as we walked. All strange. As readers of this column know I have been gradually increasing my hiking, four or five miles now with vertical rises.
Snow face plants come when you get ahead of your skis; I guess I got ahead of my feet this time. No damage except to my ego.
So this weekend I'm going to camp at Grover's Hot Springs State Park near Markleeville. I've hiked around there before, from Charity Valley off Blue Lake Road. You pre-postion one car at Grove's and left the other car at the trailhead. Doing this solo I can't do the whole hike, but I'll camp at Grover's and take a couple of hikes along the Falls trail and the Sawmill trail. These two trails used to be linked, but a storm knocked out the bridge so the two are separate. But at this time of the year I should be able to fork the creek and make it all a loop. That should add up to about 3.5 miles with just a little elevation.
I hope to add a part of the Charity Valley trail because it is such a scenic pleasure, with towering rock cliffs on one side and a creek (probably dry now) on the other. This is classed at a moderate trail; the other two as easy. I plan to take a lunch so I can enjoy the far side of the hike, where in the past a herd of cattle in the distance offered scenic relief, complete with cow bells ringing softly. May even take my small telescope along to check on the progress of Jupiter off in the eastern sky.
Of course, if you're going to Grover's Hot Springs it would be lax not to try the baths. The two pools are divided: one super hot, the other more tepid. I learned long ago in the hot tubs of Japan ("ofuros") that the way to enjoy a really hot tub is to get in as gently as possible and then sit motionless so that a layer of cooler water surronds your body. At least, that's the theory.
Next weekend I hope to go back to Walkers Lake past Twin Bridges for a longer hike " if I don't fall on my face this weekend.
This is going to be a short column as my computer has locked up the file I had written, but check the Tahoe Rim Trail Web site for a couple of events there this weekend. Also, Diamond Peak is offering a lot of bonuses this winter there, including lift ticket reductions. And Squaw Valley is offering some music and an Oktober Fest in the village, along with rock and ski/boarder movies. That's from memory and I fear I erased the original information. Never again will I use the old system to fill a column.