inglorious wanderer

Idyllwild impressed me as a mountain resort town of the Riverside County.. It's Big Bear Lake to LA and Julian to San Diego. Last week, I was with members of the same group, the Hiking Addicts at the Santa Rosa Plateau and we marveled at the wildflowers. This time, it was Idyllwild, idyllic and wild! Bill, the tall athletic guy I once compared to the real Gautama Buddha not Pha Khin Phat, the laughing Buddha, is leading. Once again, we were made to introduced ourselves. I brought with me Holy Shih Tzu in my backpack. There were enough Asians in the group so I had to keep Holy Shih Tzu in hiding. There were Taka, Miki and Xing who name is still pronounced like crossing without the railroad. I hate it when the  SOB attacks. I hate being the slow Mofo. I hate blaming the altitude. Xing saved me from hypoglycemia but  I wish she did not have to blab to Bill that my breakfast was still in my backpack. But she  gave me the sweetest gummy bear and I would not have c...

My return to the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Preserve turned out to be an interpretive hike.  Bob, the hike leader, looks around for any rangers in sight and  uproots a bulbous flower and swears it tastes like onion. He talks about hoping to see chocolate lilies in the meadow. Meadow is pronounced like the me in medicine not the me  in the mean, says my babe! Okay, let me say grassy field instead. I think of what to blab in my next blog. Hiking and blogging go together. I can not just cuss and swear from out of the blue. I am glad I got into hiking. It makes me forget about Ayyedis Vakkendjaab. I squat for a photo with chocolate lilies. Aren't they glorieux? Google comes up with an alternate names for this wild flower growing in the meadows: skunk lily or dirty diaper!  I want to forget even learning about the alternate names of a wild flower scientifically identified as  Fritillaria Camschatcensis.  There's my friend Kay en...

Cindy was glad that the group photo was taken by the man-made waterfalls. The waterfall landscape  is located at the base of the hill where the new Palomar Medical Center stands. I hear Cindy's indignation. Cindy thinks the waterfall landscape is a waste of electricity and water. She seems to be saying that nobody would notice that the waterfall landscape even exists. I nod in acknowledgement. The waterfall landscape is built on a slope close to a busy intersection where everyone has to watch for pedestrians if stopped for a red light. Escondido is no luckier that the rest of Southern California when it comes to water resources. Water in Southern California is imported from either Northern California or from the Colorado River. To the Hiking Addicts Meetup group, the man-made waterfall becomes part of trail that started off the Offbeat Brewery. There's Cindy, Sara, Kay, Catherine, Kimberly, Ken, Bill and Dave. The Offbeat Brewery leads to Dave's slide where Dave falls....

BLT is  the Big Laguna Trail where a freshly made bacon, lettuce and tomato (BLT) sandwich would be best after a 10-mile loop hike.  BLT, the trail, not the sandwich, however, is more than 60 miles from downtown San Diego so a BLT, the sandwich not the trail, freshly made with a crispiest  bacon is highly unlikely. I did come  prepared with beef jerky. I also  brought Pha Khin Phat with me  for photo documentation when nobody is looking.  I have conceded to using  a Nikon digital camera where the exact date and hour of the photograph is documented for life. Pha Khin Phat's coming out! Sunrise Highway is a paved paradise traversing the Cleveland National Forest.  I was the first at the trail head with the help of Mang Gellan. my roadmate. At more than 5,000 feet elevation, I made sure I would only have good memories of the BLT, the trail not the sandwich! Exactly a week ago in the other side of the forest o...