Huff n' puff

Taken about a week and half ago. This is one of my latest favorites.

Last weekend, I picked up an excellent book of dog-OK hiking trails and picked what looked like an easy trail to go on. I made copies of the instructions from the book, packed Apollo in the car and went to the park - Golden Gate Canyon Park - and what should've been a 20-minute drive to the trail head turned into an hour and half of swearing.

I gave up and briefly considered going on a different trail that I spotted. But I didn't have the topo map for the other trails in the park, I didn't know how difficult the trail was, it was really windy and I wasn't dressed for that, AND there were storms rolling in and out of the area. I didn't want to chance getting caught in a downpour.

After I got home, I looked online; there was a fork on the way, and the book's directions said nothing about taking either one. So I had assumed it was the straighter route, when I should've taken the sharp-turning route. Major amateur mistake: I didn't doublecheck the directions. Lesson learned.

Weather has generally been foul for the past few days, both Apollo and I are getting antsy from lack of exercise.

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Hill or mountain?

Apollo and I have been hitting a foothill near me about 3 or 4 times a week to try get in shape. I want to do a 14'er this summer. Because I hadn't really exercised during the winter, plus the asthma, I'm starting at very easy levels. This looks tame, no? Can you see the people ahead of me?
No? Here. I'll help. The couple along with a little dog is circled in red. Part of the trail - my lens isn't wide enough to capture it all - is in blue.
This takes me about 10 minutes to get to where the blue line stops in the photo. First time I did it, I had to stop 3 or 4 times to wheeze and catch my breath. I'm proud to say that, a couple days ago, I managed to get to that stopping point with only one break.

The trail is about 3.5 miles long, I think. Apollo and I are doing only about a mile round-trip right now, it takes about half an hour - for now. Baby steps. I think we've made pretty good progress, considering the asthma issue, in only two weeks.

Oh yeah, I think I saw a mountain cat's footprints last time we went there. It had just rained, and there was a set of animal prints that were did not resemble a dog's foot.

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