About a week ago, my friend Giovanni Rodriguez posted an idea for a blogging ' Secular Sabbath . In the back channel, he sent email look for support from fellow bloggers, addressing it to "Fellow Rabbis." I thought this was funny, because he didn't look Jewish. In any case, I pinged him to decline, telling him that structured non-blogging was not my cup of abstinence.
But I'm a huge believer in taking breaks from whatever it is we do. Some of my non-blogging, non-tech activities include gardening, sailing and hiking. I invited Giovanni to take a long hike with me, and chose Point Reyes National Seashore for our destination. I've been hiking there for more than 30 years and knew tat Internet Connect did not exist. Besides the view from almost any trail is absolutely spectacular. I told him that this would be a male bonding experience and I was right. Even if the experience nearly killed him, we most certainly bonded.
We went in at the Bear Valley Trail Head, which is the start of multiple trails in multiple directions. Each trail has spectacular views, but they vary significantly in difficulty. I plotted out a route up the North side of Mount Wittenberg (1400 feet), through beautiful forests that have, for the most part, recovered from a camper-started forest fire about a half-dozen years back.
From there, we hiked down the grassy backside of Wittenberg, seeing very few people. Most of the ones we did encounter were on horseback. The entire way down we were seeing shore views all the way from Drakes Head--the westernmost point in the Continental US to San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. We lunched on fresh shrimp salad sandwiches, enjoying a pretty broad Panoramic.
I had told Giovanni that the hike was "about ten miles. " At about the seven mile mark, I broke it to him that the "about" was actually a tad over 13. It was a little late for him to turn back, so he proceeded with me over to Arch Rock, a spectacular turnout that left only four miles of wide, slightly sloping trail to get back to the car, an easy 1-1.25 hour trip. It was about 5 pm.
But, then I suggested to we hike down to the beach. It had been a few years since I had climbed the narrow, steep descent by small rapids, through a natural tunnel onto the main beach. Erosion made passing through impossible, at least until later in the year when the water would subside, so we hiked back up. Somewhere, along the only hairy part of the hike, Giovanni somehow pulled or inflamed his hip tendon. causing a pain, he tried to hide but could not.
I had just coaxed Giovanni into a state of agony. I felt badly. He felt a good deal worse. We trekked along at a snail's pace. Perhaps it was divine revenge, but I brushed past a nettle shrub. I barely made contact but it would be enough to give me the sensation that my leg was on fire for the next five hours.
So we limped back to the car, he with a damaged hip and me considering the feasibility of gnawing off my lower leg at the kneecap.
We made it to Point Reyes Station House Cafe where the ambiance is good and the food even better. Our moods had never really fallen apart despite the wounds, but after several adult beverages, we were downright elevated.
We drove back listening to an eclectic selection of music on my iPod and continue the steady banter of business and gossip, personal history and observations that we had shared for 11 hours.
It was a very special day. It was probably made even more special by the fact we could not get connection until nearly 10 pm. In my view Giovanni has gone from someone I know mostly online and like to a friend who I care about.
I just wonder what he'll say the next time I suggest we take a hike.
[If you want to see more photos of our trek, please click here. The photos are also in the Point Reyes folder and are tagged "giovanni rodriguez and "point reyes."
