Wink and I did our first big uphill walk yesterday. We loaded the cart with 40 lbs. of gear and started at the top of Newport Coast and walked down 14% descent to PCH. Took us 34 minutes. The views were amazing. Started with some fog but it cleared pretty quickly and the ocean looked beautiful! When we got to the bottom, we stopped for some water, looked each other in the eyes and took on the hill back to the top. 14% is a steep climb. If you don’t know Newport Coast – it’s long and up, up, up hill for 1.75 miles and then flattens out the final mile. I had no idea how long it would take but we did it in 43 minutes! We stopped twice for water and a quick snack for Wink. That was a pretty good taste of some of the steep ascents we’ll encounter in the Rockies so I think Newport Coast will become a regular training route for us. All in all it was only 5.4 miles so my goal will be able to go up and down 3 times in one day. Wink was awesome. He crashed out when we got in the car and slept really well last night.
