Acorn Trail

I would like to start a series of blog posts about hikes in and around my hometown of Wrightwood, California.  Nestled in the San Gabriel Mountains above L.A., we are blessed to be surrounded by fantastic hiking.  My hope is that this will be beneficial to both local residents, and visitors.  I am going to start with a somewhat lesser-known trail called Acorn Trail since my husband and I just hiked it today.

The trail head is accessible from a residential area at the top of Acorn Drive.  The very top part of Acorn Drive is private, and there are signs posted that parking is not allowed on this portion of the road.  It is advised to park on the street below these signs (which are around Camp Mariastella).  Click here for a link to more trail info and map.

Acorn Trail is about 4 miles round trip (depending on where you park your car), and relatively steep.  From the actual trail head, it is 2.1 miles to the top.  Remember that it will be a bit longer, however, to walk from where you park (The sign at the bottom of the trail says that there is an elevation gain of 1,500 feet).  I would rate the trail moderate in difficulty.  There are lovely views of the desert to the North, the crest of the surrounding mountains, and the landslide area.  All in all, we REALLY enjoyed this hike.  It's not too long, so I think we may hike this trail more often in the afternoon.  It took us about 2.5 hours round trip, and we were taking it easy.

If you would like to use the Acorn Trail but are interested in getting more miles in, it would be simple to either continue on the Pacific Crest Trail, or hike up Pine Mountain.  Once you reach the top of Acorn Trail, you could head either east or west on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), depending on if you want to go to Mexico or Canada ;)  If you walk along east along the dirt road at the top of the Acorn Trail, you will connect to Pine Mountain Trail shortly.  We will be hiking this trail soon, so stay tuned for a report!

One reason we hiked the Acorn Trail today is because it was so windy.  For the most part, we weren't exposed on a ridge line.  We had planned on hiking Pine Mountain, but the last time I hiked that trail it was very windy, so much so that my foot flew with the wind with each step!  We decided to save that hike for a calmer day.

If you have any questions about Acorn Trail, be sure to leave me a comment!

Yoga Selfies

I have discovered a new fad... the Yoga Selfie.  At first I was resistant to any and all selfies, but I started following yogis on my Instagram, and discovered I was inspired and learning more about yoga poses and yoga in general.  In my book, anything that inspires and teaches is a good thing; hence, my standpoint on Yoga Selfies (and selfies in general, I suppose) was forced to shift.

I read an article this morning that criticized the Yoga Selfie fad.  It claimed that it was creating a shift in yoga that was too far away from yoga's original purpose.  It claimed That the Yoga Selfie encourages the ego and hence it is B-A-D, bad.  I liked the article; I thought it was balanced and had a good point.  But it doesn't mean I am going to stop participating in challenges and posting Yoga Selfies.  Why?  Because I believe in my life, the benefit of these yoga photos outweighs the negatives.  And, let's face it: we do live in a technological age.  In fact, my New Year's Resolution was to stop being so dang technologically resistant!! (Which is why I started writing a blog, and opened a Twitter and Instagram account).  I came to the realization that if I don't hop on this technology bandwagon, I am going to be left in the dust!

All this is not to say that Yoga Selfies may have the potential to encourage the ego.  I think that if you are posting these photos in order to increase your self-worth, then that is the incorrect motivation.  But, if you are doing it in search of a community and a place to learn new things and go deeper in your practice, then why the heck not?!  I can tell you that this has opened me up to a whole new sense of community, challenged me like I have not been challenged, and taught me new concepts (i.e.- I have found this is a great way to learn the Sanskrit names of the yoga poses).

All of this may be true especially for me and those like me who do not belong to a yoga studio.  I practice at home through my yogatoday.com membership.  I am already connecting through technology via streaming videos in a way that yogis have not for thousands of years.  It makes sense to find community in a new way as well.  And really, all this does is make yoga more accessible to everyone, everywhere.  And that, is never a bad thing.

Namaste