Screw Being Sick, I'm Going Hiking

Since I suffered a sudden backache almost 3 weeks ago (probably a pinched nerve) I've been taking it easy... and taking prescription muscle relaxants and pain killers. Fortunately my back has been getting better, with mostly steady progress. The difference hasn't always been noticeable day over day, and there have been a few days of backslides (from overexerting myself the day before) but looking back a few days at a time it's obvious I'm getting better.

There have been (small) milestones of measurable improvement along the way. Last Sunday Hawk and I went for a hike in one of the nearby baylands. It was level walking and paved trails over half the way, but almost 3 miles. I didn't have any trouble on the hike. The next day was one of those backslides I mentioned above. But I pushed forward and moved my working area from the floor back up to my desk Monday (I'd been working stretched out on my belly for 2 weeks). It was tough sitting the first day but got better later in the week.

Today I decided two things to both test and push my recovery. First, I decided to try quitting the prescription painkiller. I figure I can use non-prescription ibuprofen if I have only mild pain/stiffness. Second, I decided to do a more ambitious hike today. Hawk and I considered several different options, weighing length and strenuousness against novelty (where haven't we been in a while?) and travel time. We decided on Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont. With last weekend's rain the grasses on the hillsides there should be green instead of the brown we saw when we visited over the summer.

Update: read about the hike in Hiking Coyote Hills Regional Park.

Update 2: Saturday night and Sunday morning I had some soreness and stiffness in my back, but it was general achiness as opposed to localized around the pinched nerve. I treated it with OTC ibuprofen.

Hiking Coyote Hills Regional Park

Today we headed out to Coyote Hills Regional Park for some hiking. The park is less than 20 miles away, west of Fremont and hard by the edge of the San Francisco Bay. We visited for the first time this past summer and enjoyed it a lot. We figured that in going today, a week after rain in the Bay Area, we'd be able to enjoy green on the grassy hillsides rather than summer brown.



One thing we noted on our previous visit was that there was more to the park than we were able to see in one trip. While we enjoyed the park's hills and bay shore, we didn't visit the marshes. So, today we started with the marshes. The park has thoughtfully provided some boardwalks through the wetlands to augment the trails atop levees. These help with the feeling of immersion in the marsh. Alas there wasn't much wildlife down here today. Sure, there were ducks and geese and a heron or two, but not as many birds as we see on many other bayside hikes, like hiking the Sunnyvale Baylands.



As we curved around the marshes east of the trailhead I took this picture (above) showing Red Hill to the west. Yup, it's blanketed in green thanks to even the modest rain we've had in the past week to 10 days.

Another reason we started with the marsh trail is that I wasn't sure how sharply my back injury would limit my hiking today. My intention was to push it; but what if my back had other plans and gave out quickly? The marsh trail was an easy one to test it out with. I felt fine after the first 20 minutes or so of walking, so we started up the far hills.



It took some huffing and puffing to get up to Red Hill, the highest point in the park. Though it's not quite 300' elevation the trails we took go basically straight up, no switchbacks. But the exertion is all worth it for the views from above. Looking north we could see as far as the downtown skyscrapers of San Francisco and Oakland. (You can't make them out in the pic above because of the resolution and the haze in the distance.) Closer in, we were surprised to see a flock of wild turkeys crossing the trail just below us. We didn't see or hear them coming when we crossed through there less than 2 minutes earlier.

To be continued....