Getting Lost

Sometimes it's fun to get lost. Maybe you have no pressing commitments and you find yourself in anew location and you're just wandering around and find that you don't remember how you came to where you are or how to get back to where you eventually will need to be. Other times it's just stressful. I went hiking in a new canyon on Friday and I totally got lost.

I had planned to go to Griffith Park, but at the last minute I decided to try a canyon in Altadena instead. I drove up Lake until it ended and found my self at the historical Cobb Estate. The only think left of The Cobb Estate is the entry gate. I can tell at one time this was a palacial estate tucked into the Altadena/Pasadena mountains. Once inside the gates I made my way up the crumbly road and followed a little post marked "trai." The hike was going pretty well. The incline wasn't too steep, but I was definitely getting a cardio workout and I felt calm walking in the natural surroundings. By the time I reached the end of the trail I was on I wasn't ready to finish my hike yet, so I looked around to see if the trail extended beyond where I was standing. I noticed that there were stais made of earth that asceded above me. I thought to myself , how convenient! As I looked at the earthen stairs more carefully I noticed that they seemed pretty steep and uneven, in other words dangerous, but there didn't seem to be any other trails, so I started to climb he stairs.

As I climed the stairs I decided that I needed to find a different path down. The steps were steep. At each plateau I would pause to catch my breath and look across the riverbed at Echo Mountain and wonder how I could get to that trail with its winding path instead of the path that I was on which cut straight up the mountain. It didn't help that I had drank two red bulls prior to the hike. My heart was beating fast and it made me short of breath. I kept going up the stairs hoping that I would run into a trail that would lead me down the mountain. I was finally almost at the peak of the mountain and I saw a trail that looked like it led back down the mountain. I rejoiced and proceeded to follow the uneven trail. I was finding my way down the mountain when the cleared path ended and was replaced by overgrown bushes and trees. I paused for a long moment and considered going into the thicket and then I heard rustling in the bushes and decided to turn around. However at that point I was far from the stairs and I couldn't see them any longer. I closed my eyes took in the warmth of the sun and just stood still and meditated for a moment. I thought about this guy I have a crush on and then I opened my eyes and resigned myself to the fact that I would just have to walk back up the mountain and find the stairs, so that I could get back down.

I was making my way back and had run into another area where there didn't seem to be any trail around me. I was listening to my "songs to hike to mix" and panicking when I heard a voice. I looked up and saw that this guy was below me on the trail asking me a question. Rejoice! I asked him if he saw the stairs down there and he said yeah. And he told me which way to walk to get down to the stairs. And I walked the rest of the way down with Dave. And it was great. I usually like to zone out when I'm hiking and listen to music, but it was cool to hear the history of the canyons from Dave. He pointed out the Ruins a top Echo Mountain and other things in the area. Apparently The Cobb Estate was owned by the Marx Brothers. We finally made it back to those gates and parted ways, but for the rest of the day i told everyone I spoke to how I got lost and God sent me an angel in the form of Dave to get me out of the mountains.