Ruth and enjoyed a nice hike into Malibu Creek today. It had been at least 14 years since I had been back there and I was pleased to see that not much has changed. This was actually Ruth's idea; she had seen or heard about the pools in the park and wanted to find them. During the hike/scramble up the canyon I was able to point out various rock climbs, bouldering routes, and other features, including some of the anchors for the camera rigging used during the filming of the original "Planet of the Apes". We saw deer, ground squirrells, bunnies, and numerous species of birds, many of which I could not name.
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When we returned to the truck we decided to leave our packs, water up and go for a run. We repeated some of the terrain we had walked but turned the run into a 3 mile loop over and around some hills. Good run. To end the morning we headed down to the coast for lunch at Duke's, Malibu. Nice day.
Dave Rivas and I ran up Topa Topa Peak today. This is our annual "fit-check" to determine our physical preparedness for our annual mountaineering trip to the East Side. We cruised it; 10+ miles and 5,000 feet of elevation gain in just 3 hours, 20 minutes to the summit. And we noted that previously we had felt more banged up than we did today. Things are looking good.
Patience is not a virtue I am known for, and I'm getting impatient to get up to the mountains. I wait all year for this big trip. Gotta go. Soon. Two weeks, two weeks, two weeks. 
