"You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again. So why bother in the first place ? Just this: What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen. There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know."
-- Rene Daumal
Hiking is one of the enriching and inspiring activities I and hubby do together. We do longer hikes on weekends, and short hikes on weekdays. We always plan our travels centered around exploring nature's wonders, where the greatest artwork and beauty could be found. Thankfully for us, our love for nature and photography inspires us to keep fit and take care of our health. I can't stress more than enough the benefits of hiking on one's health and fitness. So our backs, arms and legs won't hurt from all the weight we carry when we hike, we do a lot of stretches everyday! Aside from stretching, we do other exercises at home to improve our strength, flexibility and endurance. We aim to be hiking as long as we could, for there are just so many beautiful places to explore and be awed by nature.
Thankfully, San Diego is littered by so many mountains in its backyard to serve as our outdoor gym and local training for more strenuous outdoor adventures when we explore other places. Reaching the summit is always a celebration for us, of finding what is above. We do all sorts of more fun activities instead of turning around right away. After all, we deserved a much needed break at the summit since we hiked 5.5 miles with a climb of 4100 ft to the top. Round trip hike is 11 miles, which meant, we needed to hike another 5.5 miles on our return. Unlike most other hikes, where the return would be downhill, El Cajon Summit hike is an up and down hike. We still needed to conquer some steep uphill climbs in our return.
So, what are some more fun activities we do at the summit? Boulder scrambling! We love to conquer rocks, and rocks do bring out the child in us. But probably, more obvious in one of us, who do you think strike a better pose bringing out the better child within? Haha!
Is it me?...., I was making thumbs up sign for a great hike!
