livevigorously

What’s better than going to a national park? Getting in free! 3 free days left in 2018.

March 12, 2017March 13, 2018livevigorously

Mark your calendar and start planning your next adventure! Take advantage of these free entrance days:

April 21: First day of National Park Week
September 22: National Public Lands Day
November 11: Veterans Day

Pick a park, any of the 400 parks.

Here are some other freebies & deals that you may not be aware of :

Free Annual Pass for active U.S. Military
Free Annual 4th Grade Pass (How cool for kids!)
Senior Pass ($80 Lifetime pass or $20 Annual pass for U.S. citizens or permanent residents age 62 or over.) Get it in person at your closest Federal Recreation Area or you’ll have to pay an additional $10 for processing the application online or by mail.)

Did you know that an annual pass for $80 will get you into all kinds of cool territory, including:

(National park entrance fees run from $3-$30 a shot so the annual pass makes sense after you add up a couple of visits.)

So tell me, what explorations do you have in store for 2018? Happy trails!

top

Footloose and Fancy Free: Off Trail in Fallbrook, CA

March 6, 2017March 6, 2017livevigorously

Spring fever anyone? The air is so crisp, clean and fragrant with the pungent fertile earth and the scent of jasmine and citrus blossoms. And the hills are abloom with wildflowers already. The plan was to take a lazy Sunday afternoon stroll / trail run at nearby Santa Margarita River Trail. When we got there, we discovered that the area was closed due to recent heavy rains. As we drove along De Luz road the lush hillsides beckoned to me. “Let’s just run up this first hill”, I suggested. And we were rewarded with a mini-meadow sprinkled with California poppies and wildflowers. And then we climbed the next hill and so on. There weren’t any “Private property” or “No trespassing signs so we just kept going. Scrambling up through the bramble and brush until our car was a distant spec below. So on we went, bouldering up to the highest point on the ridge. It was exhilarating fun though my legs did sustain a few scratches…Once we reached the top, we looked for another route down. That’s when we came upon a hidden estate. We tried to traverse down another section, but the scratchy overgrowth was taller than we were. We ended up following a country road back down to De Luz and the car. A fun impromptu adventure that no doubt was more thrilling (and a better workout) than what we had planned. And my boyfriend, Ken, knows me by now, if there’s a hill around, I’m likely to find it and want to “check out the view from there”.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

It was on this hike that I found that spontaneous stream for my nature mediation section.

Here are a couple more pictures Ken took and the cactus bloom I almost forgot to add earlier.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Across the road from where we were is pristine fenced-off Camp Pendelton land. Oh, if only…

Mammoth area, CA: Parker Lake Trail

February 27, 2017livevigorously

Sweet, easy, out and back stroll through quaking aspens, along gurgling Parker Creek to pristine Parker Lake. The perfect site for a picnic, fishing or to while away an afternoon drinking in the spectacular views and crisp, clean mountain air. Truly mesmerizing natural beauty framed by the massive granite walls. (No trails lead out of the basin of up the walls.) An accessible, but fairly untraveled alpine gem.

Difficulty: Easy

Distance: 4.4 rt

Elevation: 8,000 – 8,318 ft

Getting there: Take the Parker Lake Road exit off highway 158, drive 2 miles before turning left on Forest Service Road 1S26. Drive 1 mile to where it dead ends at the trailhead. (Well maintained dirt road, but doable for all vehicles.)

Nature Meditation: Spontaneous Spring, Fallbrook CA

February 22, 2017August 16, 2017livevigorously

My new Nature Meditation section is inspired by the CBS program Sunday Morning. It’s a homage to how they close the show with the sights and sounds of nature. Today, I leave you with a video of the spontaneous spring (a bonus from our recent rains) that I came across in a rocky alcove on my footless and fancy free, off-trail hike in Fallbrook last weekend.