Keeping the Momentum

The fire lit over the weekend has been continued by running on the beach in the early mornings these past two days. The cool sand that gets in your shoes. Dodging the water as it rushes up the shore at the last second. Watching the sun stretch up over the horizon.  Smelling the sea air and feeling it hit your face as you breathe in deeply. Being one of very few people actually awake and enjoying nature at such an odd hour.  It’s an awesome experience and very inspirational. I find my thoughts are clearer and my conversations are more productive.   This weekend I’ll be hiking around Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota. Can’t wait!

Bear Canyon

I woke up this morning a bit sore. The hike we went on yesterday was fairly ambitious and my legs were linguini-ish.  After a couple hours of watching TV, I felt the urge to get back on the mountain.  I asked
Noah if he wanted to go and he immediately agreed.  That was rare because usually we deliberate for hours over any decision we make.

Within minutes we were in the car and bound for Cleveland National Forest.  En route I got a call from my friend Harley, so we detoured to Laguna to pick him up.  An hour later we were in the forest and felt even more disconnected from society than the previous day due to the more remote location of the hike.
The ascent through Bear Cayon was considerably less steep and the path was smoother than in Silverado.  Harley’s presence hastened our pace and we covered 8.5 miles in about three hours of

hiking to Sitton peak and back. The conversation started earlier this time. Harley and I talked about
how we approach a job search, networking, and career advancement. Again we shared an open, candid, and honest conversation engulfed by the green hues of the mountains.  I found it incredibly easy to share,
reflect, and accept every point that either of us made.

There is no doubt that the hiking contributed to the quality of the conversation.  My heart was beating fast and I could feel the blood flowing through my extremities. The clean air felt refreshing going through my lungs. My thoughts were clearer than I could imagine. On the way down we realized how powerful the experience was and I resolved to commit to repeating it. This is the reasoning behind this blog and I hope to continue doing these ‘clear air’ hikes more frequently.
Let me know if you would like to go with me!

Silverado Canyon

Today I went hiking with a friend from college whom I had not seen in two years. We went to Silverado Canyon, about a 30-45 minute drive from my place. Once we got to the sleepy town of about 3000 people, we could have been in any sleepy, small town in America: it consisted only of a market, a library, and a bar. We didn’t feel like we were in Orange County at all.

We headed into the canyon on the Silverado Motorway trail. The elevation change on this trail is about 2000 feet in 3.5 miles. Very aggressive!  We did not talk a whole lot on the ascent, other than to request a break to catch our breath and share the gallon water jug in my pack.

Once we got to the top 2 hours later, we sat down over some orange wedges and started to talk.  The next 90 minutes that we spent up at the top and on the descent was open dialogue and very inspirational.
We talked about the choices we made over the past 5 years and how they brought us to where we are today.  We evaluated the choices together and identified ways we could improve them.

By the time we got to the bottom, both of us had increased our level of self-understanding, inspiration, and motivation. The hike itself had much to do with the open nature of the conversation. We felt unburdened by the pressures of society being lost in the open skies of the mountains.  The valuable experience left us wanting more.