"An Out-of-Season Experience"

11-November 2020: Eventually at about 9:20am, Julie rushed us out of the house just as I was dialing into my meeting. Fortunately, I didn’t have to do any presenting (I did it last week and I had to do it again next week) though it would have been good to see the feedback a colleague was getting in his review.

Anyways, in our haste to leave for Paradise Falls, I forgot to bring my wallet (so I was driving unlicensed), and Tahia even didn’t bother to buckle her seat belt.

Indeed, it was a rather balky start to the day…

Given all the COVID-19 weirdness that had happened this year, some friends wanted to do a spontaneous waterfall hike to take advantage of the Veterans Day Holiday.

Granted, I didn’t get this day off, but everyone else did. So when Julie pitched this idea to me a couple of days ago, it was really slim pickings when it came to visiting a local waterfall this time of year.

The usual suspects like Eaton Canyon Falls, Monrovia Canyon Falls, and Sturtevant Falls were likely inaccessible due to the Global Warming-induced wildfires that were really bad this year.

However, I did realize that Paradise Falls also had year-round flow, and this year, it wasn’t affected by the wildfires.

So that was the plan for today. I also had to figure out a way to excuse myself from a three-hour meeting since opportunities to get out and unwind (especially in a pandemic) don’t come often.

Eventually at about 9:20am, Julie rushed us out of the house just as I was dialing into my meeting. Fortunately, I didn’t have to do any presenting (I did it last week and I had to do it again next week) though it would have been good to see the feedback a colleague was getting in his review.

Anyways, in our haste to leave for Paradise Falls, I forgot to bring my wallet (so I was driving unlicensed), and Tahia even didn’t bother to buckle her seat belt.

Indeed, it was a rather balky start to the day. But at least Julie managed to properly fasten Tahia’s seat belt, but I now had to be extra cautious not to get into an incident since I was technically without my driver’s license.

Evnetually by about 10:30am, we finally made it to the familiar Wildwood Park parking lot. I had entertained the thought of checking out a possible alternate trailhead that descended form the residences (possibly from Avenida de las Flores instead of Avenida de los Arboles), especially since our friend Wendy and her crew were getting misrouted by their GPS.

Anyways, I was rather surprised by how busy it was at Wildwood Regional Park given how few available parking spots were available. It wasn’t too bad (requiring some people to circle around a couple of times), but it certainly felt weird considering it was a Wednesday.

Nevertheless, as we were getting ready to gear up and wait for Wendy’s crew, that’s when they showed up about 10 minutes later.

After having a cupcake that she bought for our anniversary, we then finally started hiking at around 10:50am.

Wendy’s crew came with her husband who had the day off, her kids, and another mother and her two sons. They also brought their two dogs.

Given how long the drive was to even get to this trailhead, they expressed a desire to use a legit restroom and toilet, but none were available save for a porta-potty that was kind of hidden.

Only a couple of the guys used this facility, but the rest were holding out for a less gross restroom experience. Fortunately, I knew about the Meadows Center, but that required us to go on a slightly longer hike to get there before finally heading to Paradise Falls.

So off we went on the road leading to a separate parking lot, but a gate prevented all private vehicles from going on it. And it was nice because there were far fewer people on this trail as compared to the main direct trail going to both the teepee and Paradise Falls.

The day was practically cloudless so it got pretty warm pretty fast. However, the pace was very herky jerky stop and go as some people were hiking in rain boots (in anticipation of a stream crossing), and it made some peoples’ feet and/or legs a bit uncomfortable.

The dogs were also quite thirsty so we had to help them quench their thirst. The kids were also busy lagging behind talking about Roblox-related games or something like that.

Even though we were headed down towards the Indian Cave, we didn’t make the detour to go there. Surprisingly, there were already a handful of people that went there, and so perhaps it wasn’t a good idea for us to get into that confined area with other people and the potential spread of COVID-19 going around.

By around 11:30am, we ultimately crossed the bridge over the creek responsible for Paradise Falls, and eventually made it to the Meadows Center.

To my relief, the gates were open so thus the toilet facilities were open. We wound up spending a pretty good amount of time here (maybe 15 minutes or so) so people could relieve their bladders.

But we still hadn’t made it to the waterfall yet. So we then resumed the hike, but at least we were following along the creek where there were trees providing some degree of shade.

There were also some joggers and hikers along this path, but so far it was nowhere near the traffic that I’d imagine the direct trail would take.

Eventually when we got past the canyon portion of the hike, we then joined up with the final descent to the base of Paradise Falls.

That was when we encountered many more people, including those who seemed to defiantly not bother wearing masks. I don’t think the kids realized the risk that they were being put through as they obliviously kept going past these folks and towards the waterfall.

Anyways, by about 12:20pm, we finally made it to the falls itself, which was under shadow. In fact, given how low the sun was on the horizon, it appeared that the waterfall was always under shadow.

That kind of created some difficult high dynamic range lighting situations, but at least we apprecated the Fall Colors that appeared to be situated next to the waterfall’s plunge pool.

There was also a surprising amount of water in the creek, which made for crossing it a little more non-trivial for those who didn’t come prepared with shoes that could get wet. Apparently, a couple of folks in our crew did get their socks and shoes all wet and uncomfortable.

I guess it’s moments like these that having legitimate hiking boots was a good thing.

Anyways, there were quite a few people chilling out at the waterfall, but as we lingered here, we ultimately had this side of the creek to ourselves while we were snacking on spring rolls. It was a good call for Wendy to buy these to hold us over.

It was a nice vibe staring at the waterfall from various positions across the plunge pool though it was getting a bit chilly in the shadow.

Tahia and the kids were too busy climbing up a steep gully (which made us parents a bit uncomfortable), but they staked out a lunch spot. So in the end, everyone was enjoying themselves.

We then took some last few moments taking family pictures before we finally started to leave Paradise Falls at around 1:10pm just as the shadows were growing up over the waterfall again.

As we made our way out, Julie thought that Tahia had lost her wide-brimmed hat as it was nowhere in Tahia’s bag nor did Julie find it in her own pack. So we pushed forward up to the teepee and ultimately back to the trailhead as we completed the hike back on the most direct route.

It was about 2:05pm when we made it back to the car. That was when Julie finally found Tahia’s hat, but she was actually spending time trying to figure the logistics if we were to still hang out while eating at Raffi’s.

We weren’t sure how that was going to work out because it was predicted to be about an hour’s drive to even get to Glendale, where Raffi’s was.

In the end, Wendy’s group had to leave, and we ultimately placed an order to pick up to go from Raffi’s. Unfortunately, after leaving Wildwood Park at 2:30pm, there was a bit of a nasty accident on the 101 Freeway near Mulholland Drive.

So it wasn’t until about 3:50pm when we finally made it to Raffi’s. We saw right then and there that in hindsight, we probably could have eaten there as there was some tables in an outdoor arcade that weren’t well-used. But anyways, we just got our order, and then had to make the long drive back home.

Ultimately, we got home at around 5:15pm just as the sun had already set. Indeed, given the long distances and the short daylight as the days continued to get shorter until the Winter Solstice in late December, we’d eventually settle in, end the day, see what messages I missed from work, and finally gorge on Raffi’s takeout (basically Armenian/Persian food).

And so ended this impromptu “holiday” where instead of being in the South Pacific somewhere to celebrate our anniversary and Julie’s birthday, we had to do it on a local hike but sharing the experience with some good friends.

Indeed, life throws all kinds of curve balls, but it really comes down to how in-the-moment you can remain as well as how you react to what life throws at you.

And isn’t that the objective of the game of life when you strip away all the other distractions?