back too soon

8.5 miles or so, I didn't stick to the "featured hike" entirely. once i hit the "gray whale trail" i gave my bahiker printout to some dude that wanted to know where i'd come from. he was appreciative.

the hike featured incredible views the first 2 miles or so, then the fog hit. 50ft visibility. i had to put on my fleece after a while. i was chilled.

once i was enveloped in fog and fleece there was little to look at. still, the hike itself was quite the dilly-o. straight uphill. fun stuff. still, once the top is reached there's little to do -- it's a NO TRESPASSING gate and a bunch of microwave emitters. There's a good pee-spot that I didn't use but wished I had. Not much else. I sat and ate my sangwiches before returning down.

On the way down I spotted a side trail I didn't see before. It was narrow and rocky and steep and overgrown and thoroughly cool. Almost got hit by some mountain bikers, turns out this is a MB trail.

The hike itself was very challenging on the way up, but overall I was underwhelmed. I think I kicked myself up a notch with the 15 miler 2 weeks ago and the overnighter + 50lbs last weekend. Anything less will seem easy from now on, as this did.

What am I to do? Carry an extra 30lbs just to make it interesting?

My boots suck. Even with 2 pairs of socks my feet still hurt. I hate shoes. I can never find ones that I like and that fit. Strike that -- I like my birks and my tevas but I'm not going to hike in them.

But other than the footache I'm not really tired. Energized is more like it. w00t.

Neat things I saw on the hike:
- fog
- Pacifica
- The Pacific
- fog
- really amazing orange flowers
- really amazing bright red flower stems
- fog
- a geocache
- a rusty old overturned possibly antique car at the top of the hike
- fog
- lots of poop on the trail
- no really; LOTS of poop on the trail. tons.