Best hike ever - at least so far

I know that most of my posts are about the hikes, but today's hike was just awesome and I need to tell you about it.  Today is Friday obviously and most people are out of energy at the end of the week.  Today was no different for me.  When I woke up I felt that I had enough energy to last through the end of the day and will recover over the weekend.

My van was assigned to Castro's Crest, which is a good challenging hike.  The first time I hiked Castro's Crest, we went all the way to the top near the towers right by the "no trespassing" signs.  I was at the back of the group and had to stop several times to get my breath.  Finlay, if you're reading this, do you remember that day?

Well, I can proudly report that today I made it to the top much easier than the first time.  I remember the climb to the top was steep and very tough.  Today, when I reached the top I was kinda disappointed because it was easy.

The view at the top made it all worth it, and I'll post pictures in a bit.  At the top I took a moment to realize what I had just done.  For the past 2-3 weeks, the weather has been bad and I haven't seen as much progress on the hikes as I originally planned to see.  Today the weather was sunny and I was able to see a huge improvement from the first time on this hike.

The view combined with my trip down memory lane gave me a second wind and the cynicism from yesterday went away.  I felt really good coming back down, but hiked slower than usual to ensure I made it down safely without any injuries.  Let me post some pictures and I'll tell you about the rest later.

I'm disappointed this picture turned out so poorly because it looked much better in real life.  This is from the top of Castro's Crest looking towards the ocean.  You can see the fog coming in from the ocean into the canyon.

In the background in the middle right side of the picture is Sandstone Peak, which is the highest point in the Santa Monica mountains.

This is a picture looking down at some of the parts of the hiking trail for Castro's Crest.

This is a cool picture for those who have been to the BLR.  The peak in the middle there is the top of Zuma Ridge.  The entire trail starts on the left side behind the mountain the middle ground, hikes about 5 miles up to that point, then 2 miles down on the right side of the picture.

The mountain in the middle ground is the back side of Ocean View and Switchback.  At the top of the mountain in the foreground, is the parking lot for Castro's Crest.  We hiked down the mountain to the valley, then up Castro's Crest.

Ok, now for the cool part.  I already established that this was a great hike and I had an awesome time on the hike.  When I was coming down the mountain I was feeling great about the hike and my progress on this hike.  The frustration from the past couple of weeks with bad weather went away.

As I approached the parking lot where the van is, I noticed there was a red car parked there.  When I got closer, I realized it was a Ferrari 308 and I of course got excited.  The car was parked so we first saw the back and the license plate was from Texas, which got me more excited.

There was a guy sitting on the hood of the car talking about something and a camera crew was filming.  We became silent and stood there out of the way until he finished talking.  I expected them to be filming a show about cars, but I was wrong.

The guy on the hood is a medical doctor and they were shooting a show called Through the Wormhole for the Science and Discovery channels.  Apparently this show is about medical issues and physics issues.  After the crew was finished filming, we talked to everyone for a few minutes about what we are doing and what they are doing.  If you recognize the guy in the picture below, please let me know.

As you know, Friday is cardio disco and I decided to take it up one notch this week with the outfit.  Here's a picture.

As you can see, the disco ball has inspired other guests to dress up a little for the class.

Closing thought for the day:  What are the chances of seeing a Ferrari in the parking lot after a hike?  Zero or very close to zero is correct, but it happened today.  The 308 was in great shape and looked good.  I will need to check out that episode of Through the Wormhole when it airs.