#sunsethike

Beautiful day for a hike.

Made plans with Chie to do a sunset hike - we were suppose to meet around 5:30 at parking lot. Just a couple cars when I got here. I waited and waited, and those two cars eventually left. I said I'd give it to 6:15 and then I'd start driving back to look for her (or at least get cell service to try to get a hold of her). Around 6:13 I heard a car, But... it wasn't her. It was an entourage of friends meeting up with same idea. I asked them if they had come across a grey Prius with bike rack but they hadn't.

So I gave it to 6:30. Finally, I decided to drive back. In general it's not too difficult getting here, until you make the right turn to drive into the park. You have to pass this dusty hippie town with a very narrow and rocky road. I had mentioned to her that it feels like you're going the wrong way but you have to keep going til you start seeing the red rocks and eventually the parking lot. So as I'm rolling out to look for her, I encounter this:

A woman accidentally backed into the creek! A local fireman was trying to help her, although she did call AAA. So he was blocking the road and apparently didn't have a way to reverse easily? I don't know. At that point AAA, showed up and so he had to make way for them to get in there. It was all very clusterfucky. The woman who lived at the house (not the one who backed the car in) saw my look of frustration and since I had mentioned I was waiting on a friend who I think got lost, she was nice enough to offer me her WiFi. So I messaged Chie and told her we have to reschedule. She couldn't get through this road anyway, and at that point it was almost 7pm. Messages that she was trying to send me finally came through - turns out she ended up at a different spot since I think she may have typed in "Red Rock Park.." into her Waze instead of clicking the link to open up Google. Apparently there are multiple entry points to park and she ended up near PCH! I should've just had her follow me.. oh well! Since I was stuck there anyway, I decided to do the hike solo. It was pretty hot so at that point it was very cool and comfortable. I booked it, since I knew I was racing against the sunset. I was comforted that the group of friends were hiking late as well. I hiked so fast and actually caught up with those friends who had started nearly 30min earlier.

This hike is a must-do at sunset... just gorgeous. I took my time on the way back down, snapping pics and taking in the lighting and views.

It was nearly dark hiking back but the sounds were just incredible. I may never hike this in the day ever again!