inglorious wanderer

    I never heard about tide pools before. Or perhaps I was not really a beach person and I did not care. I was joining a beach meetup hike for the first time and I clammed up as usual. I was never the hiker who could just strike an animated tete-a-tete with anyone.  I wish I could just pose anyone a question without this person I am talking to  having to bend down  lower so he or she could get his or her closer to my lips and understand what I could be saying. I wanted so much to ask Elana how far Monlight Beach is to Swami Beach. But  I did not want to sound like I am referring to a female dog.  I am sure I would be able to find the famed Tiki head carved from a dead tree trunk myself. The Tiki is  supposed to be at Swami Beach. That was Elana, Elise, Kate and myself bending over to examine the rocks where clams, mussels and other marine life clung. Elana, the former camp director and lead for the hike wa...

 Hike to Morena Butte, Campo, California.   Xing took this photo of me during a Meetup hike to Morena Butte.  

That's Monica with me at the Clavenger canyon overlook. Monica was born in India. There's Monica again shooting some people at the boulder chairs. There's Melissa and Sasha's dad on the boulder chair overlook.                                                                         And there's Ken, the host. The overlook boulder chairs with diversity of hair colors. Ducks...trail ducks! They are also called cairns.  I think the wooden plank is also called bridge.     Bush flowers spring from the trails. Another trail left behind by plucked wanderers like this pha khin nomad....

I swore to Isabel that I would kiss the ground when we reach the El Cajon Peak! I was literally crawling like a caterpillar and I was getting disgusted with myself. It was my second attempt to conquer the most difficult hiking destination in the county. I first heard about the mountain from Mr. Bradbury, a retired volunteer police patrol gentleman who told me that the El Capitan Open Space Reserve where the El Cajon Peak is found is his favorite. I quit before I could even reach the real trailhead the first time I attempted to climb the mountain. I came prepared with a digital camera. I wish I had RN's ancient 50mm or a more high end digital SLR like Vish who caught up with Isabel and me past the 3-mile marker. He snapped a picture of me puffing like I was having one bad attacks of Emphysema. I thanked him and promise to grab the photo as soon as he uploads it at Meetup. Isabel seemed glad to see someone else she could talk to instead of a being with a caterpillar with bouts of Emp...

The Gentleman Ranger told me that the preserve has about 40 miles of trails in the entire preserve.

I wasted no time downloading my brother's photographs of the place where all of my siblings including myself were born. The barrio used to be a fertile seedbed for population growth and agriculture. For a dominantly Catholic third world country, more children in the family means more farmhand   As was the caption on my brother's photo, what has become a river after  years of typhoons and floods  were  parcels of arable land.