Sara and I started out 2012 early by driving with Larry to Rancho Santa Margarita at 6AM this morning to meet up with some other crazy people ( I mean trail runners) to run up to the main divide to race the sun up into the sky :).
Here is two of them now….Ha!
We started in Rancho Santa Margarita and loaded up two cars for the off-road drive up Trabuco Creek Road to the trail head of East Horsethief trail. The stats don’t truly show how technical this trail was especially on the way down with loose and hidden rocks.
It was cool in the morning but we could see from the clear skies and the sun starting to come up that it was going to warm up as we climbed. There were 7 of us in the group and we were ready to take on this trail, but we didn’t know what the morning was going was doing to throw at us.
The run – jog – walk up HorseThief to the Main Divide was pretty smooth only one person fell on the trail (Miwa) in an area with leaves and hard to see rocks. The trail goes gradual for a short while and the turns into switch backs going straight up. As we ascended we kept looking out over the valley toward OC and starting seeing more and more, until the ocean and Catalina Island were visible in the distance, with the sun warming our faces.
We were glad to take a short break at the Main Divide to strip some clothing and get some food in. The Main Divide is this cross-roads of sorts in the trail were the you can follow the main divide trail across to peaks. We were really lucky to have Linda along as our trusty guide; she was gushing over how much she loved to be up here on such an awesome day.
Next stop…Los Pinos – an out and back peak with a 360 degree view of the entire area. On the way up we could start to see Lake Elsinore to the East off the back of the divide and Orange County off the West side. Below you can see Larry and lake Elsinore off in the distance behind him.
When we reached the top of Los Pinos it was only about 10AM and the sun was shinning and we found the marker for the peak, but for some reason we couldn’t find the can with the sign in book…we must have been the first of 2012.
The way down was much more technical with loose rocks above some hard ground and a very steep trail. I ran ahead a ways to get some video of the group running down the trail in this nice shaded tree section
and check out what happened in this video…..
There was one last reminant of Christmas out on the trail with a pine tree, right next to the trail decorated for Christmas. It looked great and we all wanted to check it out because Linda told us to keep and out since Los Pinos…
Nice day to be outside in OC….Here is to a great 2012
Patrick Hogan
What an amazing journey. Excellent narration. Looks like a blast.
rob
wonderful trial run- i especially like the badge of honor sara received on her knee. my trail run consisted of dodging ice and snow searching for a patch or two of dry pavement. Happy New Year. Rob
rob
sara i love the badge of honor. i navigated ice and snow on my run in search for a patch or two of dry pavement.