Usually we drive hundreds of miles and then hike in the wilderness. But recently a friend gave me a GPS hiking unit that tracks the distance I walk, my speed and elevation gain. I love data -- and it's motivated me to develop some "urban hikes" that leave right from my front door. Yesterday, we did one better. We took light rail from Long Beach to Hollywood then walked into Griffith Park and along a hiking trail up to the observatory. Along the way we saw runners, families and dog walkers. The observatory was jammed and the exhibits were great. My favorite part was a handwritten sign: "Restrooms located near moon exhibit." We walked back into Hollywood and had coffee and pasteries in a hip cafe packed with Mac laptoppers. The ride back on light rail from Hollywood was under an hour! Now for the data: 4.3 miles hiked in 2 hours with 600 foot elevation gain.
And to think you didn't even need a car to do all that!! I have an app called RunKeeper that allows you to track your activities on their web site. Hmmmm, maybe I'll use it when I'm skiing and I can see how long it takes to do a run. I'll get back to you. Looks like a great day. They are building light rail out to the Taj Mahal, so we may be able to do something like what you guys did.
ReplyDeleteKern, I'd be interested to see how long a ski run lasts -- it's so intense it seems to take a long time.
ReplyDeletePhil