Santiago Peak For Real

Done. Didn't start in time for the side trip to Modjeska. The saddle of Saddleback doesn't look as pretty from the top as the pre-Divide Road portion of the route Santiago was, with lots of wooded areas and some of the biggest damn ferns you'll ever see. The view from the type is a nice look straight across to San Jacinto, Banning Pass and San Gorgonio. Baldy was there too, really the only snow yesterday in the San Gabriels, with the smog pouring east from LA still considerable. As for many SoCal hikes, Nobody Hikes in LA is a great resource to plan your hike. Just keep in mind how annoyingly indirect that Divide Road around the summit is. Since it's for cars that need a level surface, that road is pretty much the opposite of the shortest route.

If you've had any of the bugs going around this year - one of several* viral flus, or a nasty strain of Strep pneumo that I was lucky enough to host for two weeks - you know how hard it is coming back from this. Very frustrating! The up-side is that when you're coming back from an illness, those parts of your training you hate and neglect have a more obvious impact. For many people it's hills; for me (and also many people) it's sprints. See you at the track!

There must be several viral strains going around this season because there are many people who got their flu shots, your blogger among them, and still got sick. That's no excuse not to get immunized!