Walking Corona Heights With Poppy the Impatient Puppy

Walk #19 - Corona Heights

A view from the Corona Heights walk, near the summit.

Oh Poppy, my Poppy, I must be such a good dog owner, you have been walking like a dream puppy on our regular walks. It must be time to graduate to puppy girlhood and go on a more advanced walk with your "master". (Imagine a puppy snickering.) I finally get to take my advanced little dog on a nice relaxing and picturesque walk that I have been meaning to do for months, one of the Stairway Walks in San Francisco. This is a book by Adah Bakalinsky and includes twenty-nine, you'll never guess it, stairway walks in San Francisco. I bought the book after hearing an interview with her on Forum on KQED. Here is a link to the archived broadcast: Urban Stairs of the Bay Area. For our first stairway walk, I chose Corona Heights because it was close by (See the mapped route of Walk #19 at the bottom of this post). As fate would have it, it was a beautiful and frustrating walk, thanks mostly to Poppy the Impatient Puppy!

Okay, I will take full responsibility that I made many misjudgements:

1. I chose to wear old jeans that I haven't worn in months. I forgot I needed to wear a belt with these jeans and I spent the entire two hours continually pulling my pants up (ask me why I didn't turn around and get a belt!). 
2. I chose to take a shoulder bag instead of my usual, small backpack. This kept rubbing on my t-shirt causing it to hike up and up above my jeans, so I spent the entire two hours continually pulling my shirt down. 
3. I chose to take Poppy the puppy, who kept pulling on her leash ahead, behind, to the right and to the left, to sniff, chew and jump on whatever her nose desired, so I spent the entire two hours pulling and tripping on the leash trying to control her. 
4. I was actually trying to follow the directions of the walk in the book while managing the first three.
5. I was actually trying to take photographs, the kind where you need to be still while the shutter is clicking. Have you tried taking a photograph while a puppy has wrapped its leash around your leg and is trying to run after a leaf?

So, if you can imagine, I spent two hours walking up and down hills and stairways while trying to pull up my pants, pull down my shirt, follow directions, keep control of an rambunctious puppy and take photographs. Well I did get some exercise and I did enjoy the beautiful weather and I even got some photographs of some nice views, to see them, continue on.

On our way to the designated walk.

Sidewalk stairs on our way

Rows on Palm Trees in San Francisco!

A nice San Francisco sidewalk (except the couch...).

Geez, why can't I get this to grow at my house?

On one stairway down, we got drenched by sprinklers.

A nice tree along the stairway down.

Poppy, pulling me up more steps.

Poppy says: "Hurry up! Let's go!"

I make Poppy wait, but she is focused ahead.

A view of downtown from the hills we climbed.

Of course, Poppy wants to run up the stairs.

Some nice rows of San Francisco.

You gotta love the crazy streets and hills.

The summit of our walk, 400 ft.

A wider view of a San Francisco neighborhood.

Sutro Tower and surrounding neighborhood.

Another look, I couldn't help myself.

Some wildflowers growing out of the rocks.

Park Hill condos, which used to be St. Joseph's hospital.

Poppy is enjoying the wind in her ears and the views.

A wider view in the other direction, towards downtown.

A shot of the summit and its view beyond.

Wildflowers growing near the summit.

The steps down from the summit.

My lens cap rolled down this hill.

We arrived back at the house, I, frustrated with Poppy and glad to be back. As I unlock the front door, Poppy decides it would be a good time to pee on our neighbors doormat adjacent to our own. There are no words for my horror (our neighbor doesn't really like that we have a dog). I let her finish (what else can you do at that point?) and went inside and immediately opened a cold beer, glad to be finished the walk with Poppy the Impatient Puppy.

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Foggy Morning Along Tomales Bay

The alarm went off at 5 a.m. I jumped out of bed, turned it off and went back to bed where I lay, not sleeping, battling with myself.

Do I really needed to get out of bed this early to see the early morning light along Tomales Bay?
Isn't it going to be just as rewarding if I get there later in the day?  
You said you wanted to do this, some voice reminded me.
I did, I did, but that compelling other voice in my head is tempting me with more sleep.
This is what happens every time, the voice said again, and you always regret it.

I jumped out of bed, it was 6 a.m. I rushed around and was out the door with my camera equipment, coffee, and packed lunch by 6:30 a.m. From my front step, I could see the light already emerging from somewhere behind the buildings of downtown to the east. This is still too late in the morning to get started, 5 a.m. would have been a better time. I head over the Golden Gate Bridge and then on back roads through Lucas Valley and Nicasio Valley (I stopped here for some foggy photos that counter my previous post, I will hopefully post them soon) and the town of Point Reyes Station and finally on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard along Tomales Bay.

I stopped at several pullouts, clustered near the town of Inverness. The fog was lifting from the long, narrow bay. The sun was rising through and above the fog. Morning was already here. I was a little too late, but it was still great. I made a mental note of this and reminded myself I will only have to get up earlier and earlier until June to really have the opportunity for the best light of the day.  

Its worth it.

The rest of my day was spent on the eastern edge of Point Reyes National Seashore. More to come on that.

ADVENTURE #2: The Inspirational Duck

I had today's "adventure" planned out. But now I realize there is something wrong about that statement. Somehow I don't think "adventure" and "planned" are really supposed to be used in the same sentence. But, oh well, I did.

I decided to go for a six mile hike after work. The hike was supposed to take me through old, sun-dappled oak groves; along calm and sparkling waters; up lush, green hillsides, through cool, shaded forests; down and around dry, lizard-littered brush; through grassy, mountain pastures and finally along a mountain ridge trail with amazing views of the whole valley as far as the eye can see. Sound nice? Well, that isn't exactly what I did.

I park my car and start out. It is very nice and quiet and peaceful along the fire road that parallels a narrow creek through the woods. The forest breaks and the trail starts up a steep hill. At the top of the hill is the lovely water; calm and sparkling with a circumference of trees and mountains.

Sigh. This is when the peacefulness part ends. There is a shooting range way across the lake and you can hear the never-ending sound of gunshots reverberating through the small valley. At first I do a good job of ignoring it, especially as I travel along the perimeter of the water and discover a new crop of wildflowers to be enjoyed.

I take my time observing the wildflowers before continuing on.

The trail breaks from the perimeter of the water and heads into a beautiful, elegant, oak grove. It is the kind of tree grove that you can't help noticing. You just can't. If you were thinking about something else when you enter this grove, you immediately stop. The serenity here wakes you, in the gentlest of ways, to a more beautiful waking dream then you could have had while asleep. There are small pockets of magical places on earth. This is one of them.

I exit the grove and the trail begins to climb deeper into the forest and up the hillside. Everything turns a glowing, emerald green. But by now, the time I had allotted for this hike has really come to an end. I took so long and I had only gone a 1/4 of the way! This is when my mind becomes my worst enemy and I berate myself for not completing what I set out to do. This goes on for a time and I get more and more pissed off for not having gone further. In this competitive world we live in, isn't that what everyone is trying to do? To have more, get more, do more, go faster? How is this relatively short hike an adventure or a break from ordinary life? Give me a break! Hmm... Maybe that is exactly what I need to do, give myself a break. This is supposed to be FUN! And, well, it is! As soon as my mind gets involved it stops being fun.

So I stop. I look around. I take in all that is around me. The quiet, the forest noises (intermingled with gun shot sounds, unfortunately), it has a calming factor like cool water on a blazing, hot day. When you walk (or run or bike or whatever) through a forest, things, such as birds and animals, run from you. But when you stop and are still, new things emerge. The forest becomes alive as the animals, birds, insects come out of hiding. You are not alone in the woods, there is life all around you. Energizing.

Reluctantly, I make my way back. Of course, my mind interjects its negativity again at every opportunity. I do my best to continue to enjoy my surroundings but it gets harder and harder as I get closer and closer to the end of the trail. By the time I reach the end, I am back in my superbly negative state. In a desperate attempt to not leave in such a bad mood, I stop along the bridge that leads to my car. I hear the creek running below and I know that running water always seems to have a calming affect. I look over the tall rail, down at the shallow creek and, to my surprise, I find a there is a lone duck in the creek.

I have seen plenty of ducks in ponds and lakes, but never in running water. He seems to be looking for and eating something out of the creek. The duck looks at peace with its surroundings; at peace with its current activity in life. At peace with wherever it is and whatever it is doing at that moment. Maybe that is the key, not to plan adventures, but to find it in every day things. The adventures of swimming in a creek and looking for food. Maybe, because we have become so insulated from the world around us in our jobs, homes, etc., our lives have become sterile and we no longer venture out. Maybe that is where adventure takes place. The duck inspires me to live life with peace, the adventure of my everyday, ordinary life.

Adding Adventure to an Ordinary Life

I am looking for adventure. I swear it is out there to be found, but I have an ordinary life. So I ask myself, "How is it that I am here, at this place in my life?" It baffles me, depresses me, and amazes me all at the same time. My life is certainly not terrible, in fact, there are many things that are pretty terrific, but I can't shake that sense that there is something that I am missing, that there is more to it then THIS.

So what is THIS? I live in a city. I get in a car and drive an hour to work. There, I sit in a cubicle and do work all day long. Then, I drive an hour home. When I get home I make something to eat for dinner and then eat it. By then it is kind of late. I do a few things (hobbies mostly) and then go to bed. I have been married for a year and a half. I am in my early thirties. I don't have kids.

That brings me to adventure. In order to add some flavor, color, texture, variety to my life I am going hunting for adventure. Since I am not on vacation or on a safari all the time, my challenge is to find adventures possible in ordinary life. They may be small or large, risky or less so, but they all should overcome the inertia of homeostasis, or "the usual". In other words I am going to get off my butt and try to experience new, unusual and non-routine things.