Hiking Through Pictures

Last Thursday, I decided to take a day off to remember a very special person and I decided to honor them by doing something they would have liked which was to go on a hike to some old ruins and take a lot of pictures. A couple of things I forgot:

1. I don't like hiking. I like going downhill, lunch and waterfalls I can swim in.
2. I do not like uphill
3. I do not like sweaty
4. I am not a photographer.  If the shot isn't great the first time then it's not my fault and I'm bored with it already.

But, I do like the feeling of accomplishment I get at the end. It's the beginning and middle I'm not so fond of. I picked Solstice Canyon out in Malibu for my hike because you can hike in to see an old mansion called Tropical Terrace that was built in the 50's and burnt down in the early 80's. I like to have a purpose for hikes, just going up to the top of some big mountain thing and coming down is not good enough. Unless there is a cafe at the top and a chair ride down.

Perfect day for...not climbing up this.

More my style - nice and flat.  Could do with more park benches.  Also I peed under that tree.

The New Zealand Mudsnail.  Australia has its snakes and poisonous spiders, Florida has its gators and we have...the mudsnail.  You think Zombies are bad?  Wait until a mudsnail has you in it's sights and starts chasing you.  Although you probably have a fair bit of time to get away...

Safe to say this is dead.

You might think this is the top.  But you would be wrong...If there was a Suggestion Box, I would have suggested that this be the top.

It looked a lot steeper when I was there.  I think I have made this look too easy.  Can you see the path winding through the trees at the bottom?  I should have stayed there.

Some dumb tree thing.

There's a lot of dead up here.  No blackberries in sight.  Just climbing up a sodding great hill to look at dead plants.  Whose idea was this?

Photo of something you can't really see.  I have a lot of these. 

This is another one.  Boring, isn't it?

Ooh look!  More of the same. On the plus side I'm getting closer to sitting down

Closer...

And I made it.  Bit disappointing to be honest. 

And I'm not surprised it burned down, look at all the chimneys.

It was very tropical down at the ruins after the dryness of the canyon top above.  There were supposed to be parrots. 

Instead I got a snake.  Which I have identified as an Anaconda (the photo shows him as being deceptively small which is not helping to convey the extreme danger I was in).  I was about ready to go all Downward Dog on his arse but then he looked at me. 

So I just waited for him to leave.  Which he didn't but I didn't really want to go that way.

This is a SoCal waterfall - bit on the dry side.  Did not get the swim I was hoping for...

This is a very rare butterfly that I am the first to discover.  I have named it "Brown Butterfly".  Or Moth for short.

So this is what socks are for.

Get out of my picture.

Pacific Coast Highway