Sonoma Mountain

Hello! So this is actually last weekend's post, which I was frankly too lazy to get to until today. And today seemed like a great time to do it because in fact there is no post for this weekend. Dad went camping and I went to visit my grandma. Yes. Big training weekend.

So here's what's up with Sonoma Mountain. We have actually hiked this glorious beast before, but the first time we accessed it from Jack London State Park (which is excellent and definitely worth a visit, but has kind of weird hours if you're an early-morning hiker). A few months ago (possibly closer to a year ago? I don't know.) a new trail opened up off of Bennet Valley Road that eventually spits you out on Sonoma Mountain, and we've been aching to give it a shot.

So, by gum, we did. It took us about four hours and came up just shy of ten miles, and I spent probably the last four and a half miles thinking solely about the Slurpee I desperately wanted. (It was amazing, by the way).

All pictures below supplied by Dad.

Dad also tried to take a selfie of the two of us, but accidentally turned the camera off instead.

Return to the Goodspeed Trail

This trail has kind of been like the holy grail in terms of my recovery process. It basically feels like it's what I've been working toward being able to do again. Prior to my injury Dad and I were doing this trail once a month, as a way to gauge how our training was going (based on whether it got any easier from month to month... it didn't). But my word, let me tell you- taking four months off only made it way harder. Although, the condition of my knees was definitely a contributing factor to its difficulty.

But we did it! It took longer than usual at 3.5 hours (7.1 miles), but we got it done! It was super foggy the entire way up and most of the way down, but I think we were both grateful 'cause it kept us much cooler than we would have been otherwise.