Walk the walk

When I was planning my Maui trip, I decided that while I was there I would do a fair bit of hiking. While looking around for books of trails on Maui, I came across a book of hiking trails in Los Angeles County. So, I bought both, with the intention of trying to get out and hike around a bit (and take pictures, of course) when I got back.

So, I looked through the book and at the weather and picked a relatively easy 3-mile-ish hike for Sunday. Patrick decided to come along, which made the choice very good as he's not exactly in the best of shape. In fact, the three miles - which actually may have been stretched to four with a few side-trails - took us about 3 hours, and it wasn't at all hilly. For reference, I did a 4.2-mile hike in Maui, up and down hills and across streambeds, in less than 75 minutes.

Anyway, he survived to tell the tale, and I got a few decent pictures. I have to pick the next one I want to do - I may make it deliberately more strenuous to try and discourage him from coming along, but we'll see.

(Not-so-random note: if any of the places in those pictures look familiar, there's a reason.)

On a separate but fitness-related note, I noticed in the mirror that, whereas in the past few years the lines on my lower abdomen have all been defined by "rolls", this morning the lower edge of my abdominals was visible along the inguinal ligament. For non-bio majors, that's the "v" shape guys get in their lower torsos. It's actually the lats stretching along the ligament. Anyway, it's a good sign that I'm starting to get some definition from musculature rather than fat in my abdominal area.