Hiking with Philip Erdelsky, Lady Schwarzenegger et al at Del DiosGorge Trail

I consider him a maestro in hiking. Philip Erdelsky posts trailhead addresses according to GPS coordinates, in minutes of degrees, latitude west of the Prime Meridian, north of the Equator and refers to the Greenwich time.  I rely to Maestro Magellan to look for Maestro Erdelsky's  GPS coordinates and I always get lost. I almost gave up looking for  Thomas 1148 J7, N 33 2.403 W 117 9.415. The hard-to-find trailhead is located  below a fruit and vegetable stand on the southeast side of Del Dios Highway in Rancho Santa Fe, 0.09 miles north east of Calle Ambiente.

I was even elated to see Lady Schwarzenegger at the trailhead. She came with Adele this time. Several months ago, I called her on the phone she posted on a meet up she was wanting to join. She does not drive for some mother fucking reasons, must be yoga for mother earth!  She thought I was calling to pick her up on my way to the hike. But another kindly hiker had decided to pick her up from her Normal St. place. I was calling her to ask if she was already on location and  to ask her where everyone was. It turned out that she was still waiting for her ride and sounded annoyed that I was calling her for a different reason and not to pick her up.

Lady Schwarzenegger is not her real name. I hiked with her for the first time at Santa Margarita River Trail at Fallbrook with the San Diego Day Hikers, Philip Erdelsky's group. I took a picture of her in her usual attire and captioned her as a "hippie by the river". 

The picture was almost a year ago and she was wearing her signature hiking outfit: bikini top and her abs. She thought I would roast in my own layers of clothes . I thought she looked like a transgendered person with nothing covered under those bikini tops but a couple of shriveled prunes. 

I gave Ramon my phone and requested him  to take a photo of me in front of a rusty vehicle that must have missed a turn while speeding at the Del Dios Highway and flew into the trails. I was reminded of the  bullet holes ridden vintage car half buried at the river bed of of the Santa Margarita River Trails in Fallbrook. I thought of Thelma and Louise  flying off the ravine to evade police cars chasing them. I have a photo of Lady Schwarzenegger doing a body builder pose in front of the rusty and half buried vintage car.

Now I am in the picture myself with Lady Schwarzegger flaunting her abs in her bikini top hiking gear!

There is something interesting about Lady Schwarzenegger who does not drive and  cars flying into waterway trails.

 

What exactly is a gorge?When it comes to waterways, a gorge is a narrow valley between hills or mountains and a stream running through it. Just like Lady Schwarzenegger and her yoga sensibilities, gorges are for streams that flow. In the case of Lady Schwarzenegger, it's her chatter flows
 

 

I kept flashing a grin to Ramon Muñoz who I thought to be a Mexican at first. He asked me what I was I told him I am an Ilocano.

"So am I!"

"Call me Gloria, nothing else!"

I knew  the Manang is forthcoming. But he was nice and we kept chatting in Ilocano.

 

 

Philip Erdelsky continued his interpretative talk about the gorge.

 

 

 

 

 

"The trail includes a 180 foot long steel truss bridge that crosses the river."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second from left is Ione, an Australian lady, next to him is a gentleman from Croatia. And there's Ramon who I mistook for a Mexican.

 

The Del Dios Gorge trail is maintained by the San Dieguito River Park Conservancy. It is part of the Coast to Crest Trail. The trail runs from the Pacific Coast to Santa Ysabel Crest trail in Julian.