September 30, 2021

We were up and ready for our breakfast at 8. It was just enough to get us by and on our way. Tracie so graciously asked for a photo of our hostess. What can I say?!

We set off with directions in hand. At some point in the morning we rechecked our map and were given a new option that wasn’t on the busier roads, so we took it. Little did we know we set ourselves up for an adventure!

This is what the trail looked like to begin. This is what we ended up seeing…

Three hours later and 1500 feet of elevation gain on goat trails, possibly, we made it to the San Bruno Ridge Trail. OMG! That was a tough trail with our packs and no hiking sticks. Sticks were needed on this trail. It was slippery with dried leaves and grass and precariously uneven trails. All I could think of was:

1. The buzzards are circling above (they were actually crows)

2. Life flight might be necessary. Actually at one point I slipped and fell on my butt. My Apple Watch started buzzing and politely told me it looked like I’d taken a hard fall. Should emergency services be called? I said “no”. It then asked fir verification that 1) I did fall but I’m ok or 2) I did not fall. I was honest and confirmed I fell but I was ok. That was interesting and cool.

3. And neither of us packed any extra water because today was supposed to be easy…

The views were amazing so… since we made it off the dang mountain and are safely in our hotel room with only sore feet, extra sun and a few scrapes… we can laugh about our ridiculous bravery, or stupidity, depending on how you might look at our day! Honestly the two of us, 61 and 68-year-old grannies, should be proud of our strength and determination climbing that mountain.

As we happily walked along the ridge trail, a nice wide fire trail, flat as can be, we of course had to head back down the mountain to find an actual road. I had opened up my Alt Trails app on the way up (wish I would have done that sooner) so at least we could see where the trail was leading us to.

We finally made it to the bottom of the mountain only to find a tall chain link fence standing between us and the Highway. I was not looking forward to fence climbing! Tracie wasn’t interested either so walked along the fence trail a short distance and before I knew it she was on the other side. Thankfully the fence ended at a point where large rocks interrupted the fence line and we could easily scramble up just a little and get to the other side. I was so happy!

It was now nearly 5 pm, and we had gained maybe 1 mile total distance towards the hotel during our fabulous climb of 3+ hours. We unanimoisly agreed an Uber was needed. Rescued and Checked into our hotel by 5:30, life is good!

Italian dinner of chicken parmigiana and chicken cacciatore, a glass of red wine for me, and a shared creme brûlée. Oh so very good! We worked our butts off today and desperately needed food. We were starving!

Tomorrow is a new day. No crazy directions for us. It’s a straight shot down El Camino Real Street. There will be espresso, restrooms and maybe even a lunch! Wish us luck!

#CAmission