It had rained most of the night as I slept in the jeep somewhere near
Buellton. I was on my way to Santa Barbara to pick up my daughter to take her
to my sister's place in Los Angeles for Thanksgiving. She wanted to do a hike
with me on the way, but I didn't hold out much hope for the weather - it was
forecast to rain all day. We had rain gear with us, so I picked out a short
hike that we could do even in a downpour. This unnamed summit is th highpoint
of Hillcrest Open Space Preserve, a small parcel of undeveloped land between
Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks. We parked at the end of Grissom St and were
happy to find the rain giving us a break almost as soon as we started off. It
would start again conveniently, just as we were finishing. The trails were
wet from the earlier rain, leaving that unhelpful mud that sticks readily to
the bottom of your boots, growing thicker until it sloughs off suddenly, only
to begin growing a new layer. Because the rain had been cooperative, we hiked
the 3/4mi distance to the highpoint, then continued to the lower south summit
about the same distance away. It had been some time since Jackie had me to
herself in person and she had many topics to discuss - school, friends,
relationships, trials and tribulations and all manner of things. At one point
she was talking about geology students, grossly over-generalizing about how
they dress, and commented that she could have made a great geology student. She
picked up a piece of sandstone and declared, "See? Sedentary!" I suggested she
stick to engineering.
