Jamie Hilao

I’ve learned that life is about the journey, not the destination.

So, even though I was apprehensive about going on this weekend trip to Point Sal Beach, with the mountain lions lurking & the level of difficulty described as “Strenuous” in the Southern California Hikers Guide, I started the 14-mile round-trip trek with a lot of energy and excitement, eager to see the stretch of beach dubbed Paradise by the locals in Santa Maria but more anxious to enjoy the hike.

After a mile and a half into the hike on the never-ending uphill trail, I realized that there was no turning back. There were some seriously difficult spots, some fresh mountain lion tracks on the trail, & a fall that caused me to strain my knee. But once we reached our first view of the coastline, I decided I could tough it out. The scenery was magnificent; I have never been on a hike this beautiful.

Halfway to the site after “straying off the course” as the rest of the group likes to put it, I did not think that I would have enough energy to make it. With a little bit of patience & a LOT of hand-holding from G., we finally found our spot for the night.

It was a great night: hot chili, a campfire, a bottle of wine, a full moon, and the sound of waves crashing against the shore. We even got 10 hours of sleep, the most I’ve ever gotten camping!

The next morning we enjoyed our surroundings. While Josh & Juanito explored Paradise, G. and I sat on a cliff overlooking the long stetch of beach in a meditative state for an hour or two. The last time I felt that relaxed was over 5 years ago when I travelled thousands of miles to the island of Ibiza, Spain.

After we packed up and started to make our way back, my knee started acting up from the previous day’s accident. After “straying off the course” again (this time we were MUCH WORSE OFF), I decided that the journey was NOT my cup of tea, to say the least. Ok, Ok, so I agree with my fellow hiker that I need to “toughen up a bit”, but had I known how difficult the trail was going to be, I’m not sure I would’ve gone. I hadn’t felt that exhausted since my crazy raving days and I think I did a lot of damage to my knee and already weak lower back.

But yes, in the end, witnessing grandeur on that level less than a hundred miles away from my home was amazing.

We later found out that you could park your car near the hidden beach. I hate to say it, but in this case, F*** the journey! I’m driving next time.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 14th, 2005 at 1:00 am and is filed under Jamie, Events. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.