I am so flippin’ bored of running in the coastal hills that when I pulled up to Aliso / Wood Canyon Wilderness this morning, I wanted to choke myself. Choke myself! Seriously. I did not want to run those trails AGAIN. I contemplated getting out of my truck and plopping down in the grass alongside the road and just laying there, staring up at the blue sky. I didn’t want to stay, but I also didn’t dare drive back home, else I implode in self-condemnation.
The other day I witnessed a woman carrying a big stick as she ran into Wood Canyon. I remembered then fondly the days I used to be afraid of running these trails alone. Today, I could barely stomach going out on the same trails that I have run again and again and again. Yet, somehow I managed to strap on my vest and cross the street and enter Aliso/Wood Canyons Wilderness Park.
I piddle-paddled in and about the native plant garden off of Aliso Creek Trail. I admired the cacti and pretty coastal flowers. I sat at one of the many loveseats and snapped a photo, and I took in an antique harvester used on this enormous ranch so many years ago.
And then I came up on a staircase and make-shift bridge across the creek. I took the pathway over to Aliso Creek Trail East, a trail that I have not much explored due to the fact that it’s not on the park map, and it didn’t seem to lead anywhere interesting, nor attach to any other trails.
And I ran, but not hurriedly, and not caring one single bit about pace. I stopped when I wanted, explored little paths, and noticed my usual trails from afar. I ran up on a beehive farm that I discovered a couple years ago. I approached cautiously and saw several swarms of bees hovering about the drawers. Then I was off again, determined to run this trail to its end. Maybe, I hoped, it would lead out of the canyon to the other side in Laguna Beach.
From there I went into explore mode – my old way of trail running before I knew practically every coastal trail in my parts by heart. And though this trail wasn’t anything to write home about, it was still beautiful, I worked up a decent sweat and best of all got some exploring. This trail eventually dead-ended deep in the canyon at a water treatment plant. I could find no clear way around it. But, on my return, I got in some good old-fashioned bushwhacking in search for a way back across the creek. I never found a passage way, but I found handfuls of clamshells, lots of dead-end single tracks and awesome solitude.
Today’s total run lasted 7.5 miles, approximately five miles shorter than I originally set out for. But heck, I’m happier with this lower mileage because I got to see new things. And I love new things, and I love to bushwhack, and I love to explore.
Coming out of some bushwhacking, I stood in awe at the beauty of this scene. The picture doesn’t really do it justice, one reason is because you can’t hear the wind rustling through the leaves.
Waiting patiently for something to give, for some kind of routine . . . until then, I’ll get my runs in when I can, dare I write it, WHERE I can. Yes, today, I saved on gasoline and time, and ran out the front door for a quick road run totaling 5.6 miles. 
As I headed out the door, my hubby responded that I was choosing the hottest trail, to which I responded, “But it’s flat.” To the trail runner, Arroyo Trabuco is flat. To me it is flat. When I was a road runner running mostly flat streets however, I would have never considered Arroyo Trabuco “flat.” Here is an elevation profile of yesterday’s “flat” run:
