Angeles National Park is about an hour (with the drive up the windy beautiful mountain) outside of Los Angeles. As you drive up the windy road you realize that you're breathing clean air, I mean my lungs were in shock haha. You also realize that your phone says 'no service' which can give you a slight heart palpitation if your job is to be online at all times. But getting away from the noise and hustle and bustle of it all can be such a good thing for creativity.
So once we got to the trail head of one of the many trails around the park, this was the view. Trees, sand, bushes, and more trees. The trail is pretty clear though we deviated from it for a bit, I mean you have to be adventurous, people. And it was lovely, lots of open land to see, lots of nature sounds to lull you away from reality for a bit, and lots of pine cones! Ahhh pine cones! The smell of it all reminded me of being back in South Carolina as a child where the smell of pine cones and wood chips filled the air.
I'm a nature kind of girl - nature in that I love being adventurous and being outdoors, but the sun I can deal without. I'll be the only girl on the beach with an umbrella, hat, sunnies, and a turtle neck! This kind of nature though, sun and all, is something I have to do every few weeks. The hike round trip was about six miles, which seems like a lot, but the trail is flat. There aren't any crazy rolling hills, or steep mountains to climb, though there are on other trails if that tickles your fancy. It was just a nice chill, relaxing hike up to the ranger station where there are a bunch of open spaces for picnics and camping.
I picked some herbs and dried flowers, I don't know how legal that is, but there was a ton of white sage up there and I just wanted a sprig to remember, and some dried flowers I'd found laying around to keep in my pocket. I am going to make a picture frame collage out of them. I literally want to mod podge these all over my phone case! Hmmm maybe I will! Well they smelled divine, no matter what trouble it gets me into.
We got a lil wild in the wild, stealing kissy faces next to the squirrels. How romantic to get lost together.....no? That's just me? Okay, cool. Well we had a picnic outside and it's the first time in a long time that I've heard true silence, where you hear nothing but wind, and birds, and the wrestling of trees and leaves. There were some families camping up there which I think we may do next time since you can get an annual pass at Big 5 Sporting Goods for $30, or opt for the $5 day permit.
So we got to the park around 12:30 and ended up leaving around 4pm to head to the local pub just down the street from this trail. Some nice humans started a lovely cairn atop one of the tree stumps with two rocks. Our group decided to add to the merriment and leave our mark there also, by adding 4 additional stones. If you've ever played Jenga, this is what it feels like to me every time I have to balance my rock last. Do you build cairns when you go hiking or visit a place? Do you see them often because I feel like I do. Well this is what we contributed to the memory, and it only took me about 8 pictures to get the right 'angle' of this formation, I mean, Instagram is serious business man.
And this was our group. Small but mighty we trekked through the woods. I love when you can be so comfortable with someone that you don't feel the need to talk all of the time, just enjoy the silence, be present in the moment, and take in the peacefulness of it all, and that's how I feel about these people in this photo. Nothing forced, nothing fake, just calm and chill, that's hiking to me.
I think we can get so caught up in the hustle of working and staying motivated that we forget to take time out for ourselves to decompress and chill out. I like chilling out, I think I'm going to do that more often. If you find yourself out hiking this weekend and you're in the LA area, check out Angeles National Forest, there are dozens of trails to explore.
Get dirty, get lost, have fun, and meet new people! Love that! Hope your day is wonderful, more posts coming soon <3 Go chill out
xoxo- Jess
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