The B.F.I.

NOTE: This post is being dually written by Sage and Nicole. We apologize in advance if things get confusing, but try to hang with us. It'll be worth it. ;)

It was a gorgeous, sunny day and though Nicole and I were feeling pretty lazy, we decided to try to make the most of the day by getting out and doing something cool. I felt like working out and since Nicole doesn't have a gym pass, I suggested a hike. My parents love hiking at El Moro overlooking Crystal Cove and I had been a few times so I figured it was the perfect place to go. I didn't exactly remember how to get on the trails or where to park, but I figured it would all come back to me once we got there.....

So Sage came on over and picked me up and than we chatted with the parentals a bit than went out to start our adventure. Sage drove and we put the top down, drove down PCH and blasted some of our favorite tunes. Once we got there we went to park and that was an adventure of its own! But we finally got a spot and even sucked it up and payed the $15 to park. When we entered the lot the nice old lady working the booth gave us a map of the trails and warned us of the B.F.I (Big Freakin Incline). We then grabbed our water and headed out!

After the hour it took us to figure out where to park and where the trail was (we walked across some little trail thing that wasn't even on the map...) we were ready to go! The very sweet lady at the toll booth told us that there was a gate we were supposed to walk through in order to get to the trail, but we couldn't find it because it was hiding behind a bridge, BUT! once we found it we were off! We were convinced that the tiny little trail we had walked along before was the B.F.I. because it was a pretty legitimate incline....we were really wrong.

So once we found the bridge and went across that, we found a map and looked at the "you are here" dot and realized we were just now starting the trail we thought we had been on 30 min prior. So we started our journey along this trail and realized about 5 minutes in that we were not going to have an adequate amount of water for this hike but we then proceeded to talk about the titles of the newspapers and stories that would report on us getting lost and without food or water etc. (Quite dramatic, i know) So we switched to talking about how we would save someone else with our last few drops of water! Team Austin would save the day!

Just as we were planning Team Austin's glorious rescue, we came across a REAL LIVE RATTLESNAKE! It was about 30 feet away and stretched across the entire trial when I first spotted it and realized what it was. As we got closer, I got more and more curious, but Nicole got more scared. I made sure she snapped a picture of him before we backed up and let him slither into the brush and off the trail. Once we determined he was safely hidden away and wasn't going to attack us, Nicole zoomed past and ran all the way to the next fork in the trail. I jogged past, not wanting to frighten or upset our new little friend, but I definitely wanted to get another look at his rattle.

We then realized after we ran past the snake we had missed our turn to continue on the trail we wanted to be on. So Sage and I braved the snake again and found the right path and continued our hike. After seeing this snake any shake of the bush we of course thought it was another snake or maybe even a Mountain Lion! But we did not run into any other creatures on our adventure, just many MANY hills all seeming to take us higher and higher at quite an incline. Every new incline we would swear was the B.F.I but sadly none of them were.

Eventually we got to the top of a huge incline where the trail turned and the view was absolutely  incredible. We could see the gorgeous blue ocean and sailboats and Catalina and all the cute little houses on the coast. We stopped and took pictures and appreciated the gorgeousness before we FINALLY hit the real B.F.I. It was incredibly steep and we thanked our lucky stars that we were going down this trail instead of going up. We were sweating and parched and panting when we finally got back to the car......

So since we were just across from the ocean Sage and I decided to throw our shoes in the car, run through the tunnel under PCH, turn or the go pro and take a dive in the water to cool down and do a little body surf sesh. Overall it was an Awesome Austin Adventure Day! Just one of the many great ones that are yet to come this summer and lifetime.

Love Nicole and Sage