This is why I hike. And also why I need adult supervision.

I’ve been going through some personal behind the scenes stuff so while Ben was out of town last week I decided make some time to get out in nature and took the dogs for some hikes. I left my ear phones at home so that I wouldn’t be tempted to tune out to podcasts. Just me and the dogs and the wind and the birds and my thoughts on a hike. It was awesome.

And in true Anna fashion, blonde moments were had. On Sunday I decided to do a favorite hike that I don’t do NEARLY enough and hit up the UVAS hike. It’s a challenging hike but shaded and beautiful and has waterfalls which is rare in California. Water that isn’t salty is a novelty.

Before I even left I had to go back up the stairs about 15 times. Forgot the bug spray is upstairs. Forgot my socks upstairs. Forgot my sunglass upstairs. Found my shoes finally upstairs, etc. For a second I was like HIKE DONE! But then just laughed it off and just a really good warmup.

The normal loop I do at UVAS is a 2.6 mile loop and when I got to a point where I would normally take a turn, I looked at the map and saw a trail I had never taken before called Triple Falls and decided to check it out. It was going to add about 2.5 miles but my legs were feeling great, the dogs were still full of energy and it was such a beautiful day outside so I went for it.

The last .2 mile was TOUGH, lots of short but very steep uphill climbs to the base of the falls and I was really happy to see the marker at the end of the trail. I’m glad I did though, it was a beautiful trail, the views from the hills were AMAZING and the falls at the end were fun for the dogs to splash around in to cool off and get a good drink.

I sat on the ground and ate a banana while the dogs chases each other around, splashing through the water. It was deserted and quiet and peaceful and cool and exactly what I needed.

On the way back down that .2 mile trail I felt energized and also very happy to be going DOWN now instead of UP. The dogs were jumping around and chasing each other back and forth and just being silly dogs. It wasn’t till I got to the end of that trail section that I thought I should put them back on leash because I had seen people before on that section of the trail… and that the leashes were not with me. They were .2 miles back UP the trail where I had been sitting to enjoy some quiet time.

Red is the line I normally take. The arrows are where I let my blonde out.

leashes

DAMMIT!

So I hiked back up, which the dogs thought was AWESOME because MORE WATER PLAYTIME. More time to think. More time to listen to the world around me. More time to enjoy life. More.

So here is the point of this post. This is why I hike. And also why I need adult supervision.

UVAS hike 6/15/2016

UVAS hike 6/15/2016

UVAS hike 6/15/2016

UVAS hike 6/15/2016

This is where I left the leashes:

This is where I left the dog's retractable leashes sitting before waking .2 mile back down the most challenging part of the trail before realizing I left the dog leashes and had to walk back up there to get them. #SoBlonde #SoMe #DogsThoughtItWasAwesome

UVAS hike 6/15/2016

UVAS hike 6/15/2016

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