Chas and I hiked up Mt. Woodson yesterday. We started the trail around 9am, and the mountain was foggy the whole way up. It felt mystical. We hiked from the Ramona side, and carried our packs with us. The hike is on a paved road, and is steep the whole way up. Chas and I had done the hike multiple times in the past, but the weight of our backpacks made it quite a workout this time. After we got warmed up, the backpacks became a lot less noticeable, and we started flying up the mountain. I even passed 6 people along the way (which was a nice ego boost since I was carrying extra weight!)

The trail goes between some huge rocks

When we got to the top we walked over to the famous “potato chip rock.” It has recently gained extreme popularity due to social media. The rock is thin plank that looks like it will break at any moment. When we got to the rock nobody else was there, so I had Chas snap my photo. It had been 5 years since I was last on it.  The rock itself is really spectacular, and it’s a nice reward to finishing the trail. The only downside is now due to its many visitors, the place is littered with trash. We filled up a whole bag of water bottles and food wrappers. We saw the trash before the rock. How sick is that? I never understood the concept behind trashing a place that you go to enjoy. If you can carry a water bottle up the mountain full of water, is it really that much harder to carry it down when its empty?

Chelsea on the famous rock

Some trash we collected.

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Pine needles collecting water from the fog

We hiked back down, and got to our cars around 10:30am, and the sun was starting to shine. It became a beautiful day! Chas’ mom lives nearby, so went over to her house where she prepared a delicious birthday lunch for Chas. We hardly ate anything for breakfast that way we could indulge in  her homemade cheese and chili enchiladas. She even had a birthday cake!

Happy Birthday Chas!