61-Week Hiking Challenge (Week 14) – Nipomo Regional Park

Sometimes I find it difficult to get motivated.  Week 14 was one of those weeks.  Arleena and I needed to switch up our scheduled hiking day when we heard the rain forecasted for the week.  I never thought of myself as a girl who likes her schedules, but when it comes to my workouts I guess I’m a slave to my regimen.   With the change of days and the pending gloomy weather we both lagged at the beginning of our hike.  We hadn’t researched where we wanted to go, and needed to stay in town due to our regular schedules.  So we decided to go to Nipomo’s Regional Park – the backwoods. 

The entrance to the backwoods is behind our kid’s elementary school.  Good thing the kids weren’t at recess or they’d think we were spying on them (which of course we don’t do at all – wink, wink).  I have to admit that this area is pretty cool.  Nice and large with several different trails.  Back in week 4 the kids and I tacked on one of these trails the same week we did the Turkey Trot.  So Arleena and I explored some of the other trails.

Even though most of these trails are relatively level, the soft sand still gives you some resistance – enough to make it too difficult for me to do a trail run.  My ankles would roll too easily.  However depending on which way you travel on these trails, several of them have some steep but short hills. We also came across a few obscure items – like a random rusted out chair sitting in the middle of the woods,  a set of really old rusted keys (maybe they belong to the same people that left the chair).    Living in a rural area, there are a lot of horse people as you can tell from the sign below. A few days after our hike, Arleena even went back with her son, took a different trail, and found some BMX jumps.

After exploring, we decided to continue our hike through a residential paved trail loop.  I feel so blessed to live in an area with views like this.  I love living so close to the ocean and in the middle of an agricultural heaven.  This hike that started with no motivation ended up to be a nice workout after all.

My thoughts:

Difficulty:   2 (out of 10)

Beauty:  3 (out of 10)

Distance:  4.4  Miles

Time:  1:13;00

Worth It?  It’s easy and close to home.  Easy and great for kids.

Rating:   2 Stars (out of 5)