Taming the Second Sister

Cerro San Luis

AKA

San Luis Mountain

AKA

Madonna Mountain

is the

sister

second

from Islay.

Annie and I started our trek up

the mountain from

Laguna Lake Park

(the best doggie park in SLO)

One of the nice things about hiking in SLO

is that mornings

are generally

cool

often times

foggy

and

the perfect weather

for hiking

You see the trail?

That is one of three

(or four)

ways

up

the mountain

It is really not a

REALLY

tough

trek

...

It is

much tougher

than

Islay

though

and

I

did

huff and puff

quite

a

bit

That's Annie.

She hates when she hears my camera

clicking

behind her

You couldn't see

the

"cerro"

(the top)

as

it was

really foggy

but you

could

look

west

towards

Los Osos

and

the other

sisters

and

have

a beautiful

clear

view

Laguna Lake

and

the

Irish Hills

were still

fogged

in

but

the view

was still

quite breathtaking

Look

to

the

east

and

you see

Islay Hill

the airport

and

the Edna Valley

This is about

three quarters up..

see the trail?

Huffing and puffing

is the breath

pattern

at

this

point

and

then

ta-da

the

TOP!

The views

sans

fog

are

alarming

spectacular!

Annie and I

posed

and

patted

each

other

on the back,

and said

"good job"

and

we headed down.

It is a

bit steep

in some

areas

so

you

really need

shoes

with

decent

treads.

the hike

is

about

three

miles

up

and back

The

next

Sister

will

be

Bishop's Peak.

As Annie is heading

back

to

UCSC

to finish

up

her

senior year,

Toulouse

and I will need to grab another hiking buddy

to

tackle

Bishop's

...