Travels && Adventures: Santa Cruz/Mt. Madonna

Adventures with Tomas Pt. 1

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
I had talked to Tomas a few days ago and we decided that we wanted to go hiking or something. Yesterday I had to go to Cabrillo to pick up transcripts, so I figure we might as well go to Mt. Madonna since its on the way back from Santa Cruz (going toward Gilroy). When we were at Cabrillo, we decided to go to the boardwalk since we were so close anyways. I hadn't been to the boardwalk in a few years. And I actually have never gone when the rides are closed. Tomas was hungry and craving greasy food. I think there was just one food place open. I really wanted dip 'n dots, but they were closed.

The boardwalk was completely empty except for a few kids. We walked along the boardwalk then went on the beach. You would think it would be cold, considering its early January. But it was a perfect day. I had a sweater and long pants on, but the weather was just perfect - not too hot or too cold. California weather is pretty much summer time already in January. (Kinda makes me sad because I want to go snowboarding). It looks like they have a new ride on the boardwalk, a drop-zone type of ride. Tomas looked like a bum with his beanie on, so we just pretended we were bums. We wanted a more realistic Santa Cruz experience, lol.

Mt. Madonna
Next, we drove to Mt. Madonna (between Gilroy and Watsonville). I realized that some of us Hollister folk like to pick on Watsonville, calling it ghetto and all. Truth of the matter is, just by driving down TWO streets, I saw more stuff to do there than Hollister has to offer. Typical.

So we get to Mt. Madonna and finally find somewhere to park. Tomas, being the bum that he was, for some reason I found him looking in the trash. Then he stuck his hand in the trash can (I thought he was taking the bum thing too far) and pulled out some bum nudie treasure!!! He found some cards with naked women on them, haha.

We hiked on the "Spring Lake Trail" because Tomas thought it would lead us to a Lake. I don't understand his logic since we were hiking UP and not down. But I guess we will never know if there is really a lake or spring there or not, because we never finished the trail. We came across a lot of mushrooms along the way. I'm not sure how many miles we hiked, but the climb up was pretty intense. I could feel my quads and calves burning. We stopped to eat several times because we needed to take a rest (we are amateur hikers). We had fruit and trail mix. At least we were healthy.

It was a good feeling to get out in the open air and hike. If I'm not working, I just stay at home and watch TV on my computer (theres nothing else to do here...sometimes I go to Target, lol). It's no ones fault but my own...but at the same time, I'm not gonna go hiking by myself. I knew Tomas would be up for the adventure with me. I wanted to do more hiking because I know I will have some major trekking to do in Machu Picchu. I love hiking and outdoorsy stuff, so it was fun to actually get out and do something!

I'm not sure what was worse, the hike up or the hike down. Yes, the hike up was more strenuous on my lungs and upper legs, but the way down hurt my feet and ankles just as much. At times, we even ran down because it was easier on the feet/legs. I would like to start running again, but I know that probably won't happen. But it felt nice to run down the trail, I'd rather do that type of running.