Go Take a Hike!

Doesn't he look like he's at the top of the world! Everest? Nope! Valencia Peak:)

Jim is climbing Mt. Whitney at the end of June, so has been doing many training hikes with a backpack. He started with a 25 lb. pack, but on our most recent hike the pack weighed about 55 lbs.! His strategy is that when he hikes Whitney with a 40 lb. pack, it won't be quite so bad, even with the high elevation. In the picture above(and below) we hiked(I have been joining him, without a pack) Valencia Peak in SLO. It was foggy and cold the entire hike until we reached the top...
At this point we were above the clouds and felt as though we had arrived in heaven:) Actually with this surface we felt that we were on the moon. It was very cold and windy, so it was nice to reach the car afterwards and crank up the heater!

This day we chose to hike SLO highest. It was so golden(and windy) at the top(almost). That's the Cuesta grade in the background.
Our most recent hike(besides the Orcutt hills yesterday) was in Los Osos. There were some very steep sections to scramble up...I don't know how Jim did it with his heavy pack! We were just above the town, but felt a world away! There were so many trails going every which-way up there it would have been easy for me to get lost(NO sense of direction!), but we made it out of there without going in circles! Thanks Jim!
Riley was with us...I couldn't resist this close-up of her cute cupcake collar:) Tres chic!