“Why aren’t we going the other way, east to west, it would be all downhill!?” asked one of the experienced (older) hikers on the trail. Personally I thought going west to east was more ethical. I was hiking the whole Backbone 

Trail in parts with Ventura Sierra Club and the idea was not to simply have our foot touch every spot of the trail, but to pretend we were hiking it continuously. And that meant all in the same direction!!

Last time we had left off at the junction with Sycamore Cyn so that’s where we met and resumed. The destination this time was Mishe Mokwe Trailhead, a fairly remote but known launching spot for day hikers going to local peaks. So 9 of us set off, we picked up one part way at Danielson Ranch, but only 8 made it to the end.  

What happened? Part 2 of the Back Bone Trail was the hardest longest section of the series: 12+ mi. and 3,000+ feet gain.  But look carefully at the map! The first 4-5 miles are nearly flat. So really it was 8 mile and 3,000 feet gain. Compute that out and you get about 7% continuous uphill. (The grapevine descent is 4.3% if you want to compare!)

Not a hardship but definitely a work out.  Most of my co-hikers were approved Sierra Club leaders, meaning there was probably a couple hundred combined leading years in total. But uphill hiking is hard no matter the person.  No matter the hiking pole. Or boots. Speaking of boots, it would’ve been a much better day for me if my own boots would quit finding new places to rub! Moleskin got me through the day and I put on a good face the second time around saying it would get me through the next couple hours. But one of hikers nailed me replying, ‘it better, you have no choice!’. 

If my boots were a story, how about the person who trekked the whole day in these sandal things?? She smiled through all 12 miles. How on earth is that fair!!

Onward and upward to BackBone Trail Part 3. See you then!