St David's Day in the UK

is otherwise known here in the USA as, March 1st!   Since the weather forecast is calling for another round of rain this week, I figured I'd better sneak in a quick hike.  Who knew, but right now in Southern California its a 50/50 chance that the sun is going to shine or the rain is going to fall!  No complaints.. I love the rain and we need the water.

This morning was spent at the gym in a killer spin class (thanks Lara O!) and Train (our black lab) was anxious to get out of the house when I got home.  What better way to let him work off some energy then a hike up Sisar Canyon!  We got a late start, and the trail is head is a good 30 minutes from our house, so the plan was to go just to the gate at about mile 4 where the fire road jogs off to the left and the main trail continues straight on.

Unfortunately, some nasty looking clouds came out of nowhere and started to envelope the upper elevations so exercising my better judgment, we turned around about a mile short of our goal.  Not to worry though, the hike was beautiful!  The rain we had 2 days ago on Saturday kept the temperature under control and the dust down.  The trail was moist but not muddy, with only a few puddles to walk around and the creek crossings were easily navigable with my trusty trekking poles!  Train of course plowed straight through, using each crossing as a chance to cool off and hydrate.  This is the same dog that gives you a mortified look and shakes like a leaf if you try to give him bath!  Go figure...

I logged this trip on EveryTrail, a GPS app I downloaded for my iPhone.  So far, I love this app!  I am fairly ignorant when it comes to reading a map or navigating my way around a large shopping mall so having a utility that automatically tracks my route and lets me add pictures along the way is absolute nirvana!  It summarizes the distance, average speed, time and a handful of other useful stats as well so I can easily update my training journal when I get home.  If you have an iPhone, like the outdoors and have been looking at GPS devices, I strongly recommend this app.  Why purchase another piece of technology when with a little care, you can make double duty of your phone?

Check it out!

Sisar Canyon Short Hike

Map your trip with EveryTrail