So, something finally happened. Yesterday, we went hiking. We kept leaving and then remembering something and going back to get it. First, we forgot to turn off the heat. Shouldn’t be a problem, I know. But we can only use up to $200 of heat before we have to start paying, so the house is really cold most of the time.
Then we forgot the water and had to get that (to any Westwoods who might be reading this. Okay, fine. For once in our life we forgot water, but at least we went back to get it.).
We had to drive up mountain kind of thing where you do a lot of curvy switch backs. Very nauseating. We walked down to the beach then. It was a little chilly, but not too bad. I was in sandals, fyi. There were people sort of surfing out on the waves. They weren’t big waves and most people were just sitting out there randomly. A couple people were body surfing, but we did see some people actually stand and surf. I thought it was pretty cool.
Started the long hike in the sun…There were a lot of people jogging on the trail, which I can’t help thinking is a little odd because that’s not something I would do. We stopped, took off a couple coats. I took off my sandals and we started walking. To give you an idea of what the trail looked like, it was at the bottom of a hill and sort of at the beginning of another drop into the ocean.
So, there wasn’t a lot of chance of falling off, but it could certainly be imagined.
We had a long discussion as to what scenic means. My mom says it’s something that’s just beautiful, but I was saying it’s dangerous (it can be beautiful too). We were talking about whether the sheep on the mountain were scenic or not. I don’t think they were because they weren’t attacking anybody. I don’t think sheep are particularly beautiful either.
My parents saw a little path leading down toward the water and thought it was the path for some very odd reason, which I pointed wasn’t possible because the trail led down to a cave. That of course got them going, so went down to see the cave.
It wasn’t actually a cave. Well, it sort of was. It was dent in the rock with a couple small cave type things. We think it was one of the bunkers for WWII soldiers. There was a stove and probably use to be a covering. There was also a hole in a rock that had been smoothed down into a rectangle and then three flat stones were put around it to look like a door. There was a little plate with 301 written on it above the doorway. It looks like something still lives there because the entrance has been worn down.
We guess that it was either made for fun by the soldiers or they actually had a small pet that they kept there. Who knows. While we were standing there looking at the ocean, a seal swam right past us. It was about four feet away. It got slammed into the rocks by the waves, but he seemed fine. He did that dolphin thing out a little bit and then disappeared. So, we went back to the path and kept walking. Oh, by the way. Before we passed over some wooden steps and a bridge. There’s a small river there occasionally I guess.
We ended up taking a “short cut” and got lost. Wandered past some sheep and fences and crossed some styles (which are the gates on a fence that people can get through, but sheep can’t. Some are small gates and some actually go over fences). We happened upon two places that guns were set so they could fire on the enemy. There were some storage places, probably for ammunition, but who knows.
It was really really windy, but fortunately not too cold. At least I didn’t think so. Walked some more. I walked on a lot of thistles and the like, which did hurt a little. There was also a lot of mud. Well, not so much off the trail (where we were when we saw the gun places), but definitely on the trail.
Found a parking lot, so we knew where we were again. There were a couple trails. There was the one out to more gun things, which we had already seen. There was a costal lookout (which most people looked at) and the tunnel trail, which we took. The trail started out straight. It went past three military buildings. They’re all empty now, but there used to be machines in there. They were really echoy. I don’t really know why, but there were windows in the building facing the cliff and a tree had grown on the other side one window and it looked really cool.
Most of the rest of the trail was a curvy downward thing that was really muddy because a river was running straight down the middle. About halfway down the trail there was a big hole, which the river ran into. So it wasn’t muddy for a little bit. Why there was a hole is beyond me. But we ran into another river soon enough.
That one fell off the edge of the trail near the bottom. My feet were really cold by that point by the way because they were covered in mud. It was also getting cold because we were in shadow because the sun was behind a cloud and on the other side of the mountain/hill.
Then we got to the tunnel through the mountain. It wasn’t very far. According to the sign it was 103 meters. Can anyone do the conversion? Not far…
So. It was really muddy in the tunnel. My feet were caked afterwards. There were a couple (three, the fourth was closed off) side tunnels. They didn’t go far, just a little bit out so you could see the ocean.
I used a flashlight because I’m going, I’m barefoot and stepping on a rock would be really painful. At the beginning on a side track there was a long strip of water about an inch deep. I wouldn’t have minded walking through it if it weren’t so cold. So we walked with our feet at either side where there was just a little bit of land. I held the flashlight in my mouth because I needed my hands. And it worked too.
There was a really big puddle of water at the very end of the tunnel. And two conveniently placed rocks. The second was really wobbly though.
Oh yeah, I just remembered. No, wait. Never mind. I’m lying. I’ll get to that later. So, we walked along the water for a little bit and then went down on the really big rocks which served as a beach. And sat…and ate…and left. We saw a lot of people pass us and go back.
There was a more complete, cement bunker part way down the trail and another one a little farther down. Saw both of them. Etc. There was spray paint everywhere on the bunkers. It was impressive. Do people seriously come out here to spray paint? That is so weird.
Walked back up the trail, through the tunnel, up the really high switchback, irritating path, through the parking lot (a lot of Japanese tourists or maybe they were Chinese…), up a different path that would loop back to the beginning, over to another almost underground bunker that was filled with water and got lost. Again.
We knew where the path was up until we went over to the bunker. Walked through some more sheep herds. My dad pushed a fence over so we could to the other side where we saw another bunker and thought we might be able to find the trail again. Don’t worry. He put the fence back up. This bunker’s door was wedged shut and there was grass on the roof. We think it was put on there on purpose so that it could be hidden. On the bunkers there is a strip cut out all the way around the front and part way down the two sides so soldiers can see out. There were also these metal plates that they could put up to protect themselves from whatever.
There was spray paint in the bunker, which means someone had to slide in through the window and do that. They left a spray can behind. At least one of their cans. This is where the thing I remembered before happened. I was wearing out hiking pants, which are zip-offs so they can be shorts, which is really nice.
I was wearing long winter underwear, so incase you’re wondering what those black leggings are in the pictures of me, that’s what they are. It did look a little weird because I was still wearing shorts. Okay, this is awkward. Moving on.
Walked along the top of the mountain, still lost. A lot of the same. Sheep, fences. Oh yeah, my dad pushed down the fence so we could get back over because we decided the path was on the other side. Not so much, but that’s okay.
Finally ran into the mountain bike trail, which we followed for a while. It was a lot more worn down then the other paths we were walking on, which were grassy and/or small. It was very curvy though. My parents kept taking small short cuts. Basically, they were walking straight down instead of doing switchbacks. I ran along the bike path so I could keep up with them. The other thing that was weird about the bike trails is that there was the path and then on curves the grass would be worn away on one side, which was sort of slanted up hill. It made it look like those things in skateboard parks.
The first time my parents took a short cut, I ran down to the bottom, trying to beat them. But then my mom veered off a little because I was only just going to beat them. So, I started running faster, right into the mud. I fell over. But at least I won. J. We kept doing that all the way down until we ran into the normal trail. I stayed on the bike trail because they were parallel with each other. At that point the regular trail was sooooo much flater then the bike trail. Oh. There was also this bump on the trail. It was one of those perfect round bumps that’s flat on the side. I was running and only just managed to leap over it.
I said that if the bike trail ever got too far from the regular trail, I’d leave and go back to my parents. Well. It stayed close. But it got really high. Eventually, the regular trail ended, but the bike path kept going. So, I ran all the way back to this little bridge where I’d seen a path down.
There were people still surfing when we walked down the beach to the car. My parents were having this weird conversation about men’s fashion. My dad was saying China and somewhere else (I think maybe NZ(?)) are more advanced culturally then the US. Not sure how that works. They were also talking about how most younger boys have shirts in every color, but older men don’t. Real men wear pink! :p
