15-148

Mile 412.  Tortoise headed over to continue walking the San Gabriel River Trail on his way between appointments, this time covering from trail mile 23 to 20.75 in both directions plus connections off trail to a parking place.  This trail segment is near two heavily traveled freeways, Interstate 605 and State Route 60, but what Lou saw along the way was the Whittier Narrows Nature Reserve, a dam, lots of foliage, and the Pico Rivera Golf Course.  The Golf Course has a welcoming sign on the trail offering free water along with various menu items.

For more pictures, a map, and today's walking thought by Stephen West and dedicated by Tortoise to ... The Ledge, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

Tortoise got off to a slow start.  Parking is hard to come by near the Peck Street
entrance to the trail.  You have to be on the south side of Durfee to cross to Peck.
And there is no entrance to the trail on the west side of Peck, so you'd best be
on the east side.  So, Lou walked most of a half mile figuring these things out,
and is now on the trail, ready to go under Peck headed south at mile 23.00.

In a short quarter mile, you start feeling the joy of seeing plants
rather than the concrete jungle of the city.  The side path just ahead ...

Is the entrance from the trail to the Whittier Narrows Nature Reserve.
Mental note made for future magical mystery walks!

A mile and a quarter south of Peck, the trail makes a sharp right to prepare
to go over a dam, and also to meet up with ...

The Rio Hondo Trail.  Tortoise didn't know about this one.
Lou loves finding new places to walk along the way!
For today, he turned left to continue on the
San Gabriel River Trail

And immediately saw the Whittier Narrows Dam, which will make Sarah
smile because it is where South El Monte meets Pico Rivera.
In case you were wondering ...

At mile 21.50 the trail has climbed the dam, revealing this view beyond ...

Of the Pico Rivera Golf Course

Tempting .. but not today.  Very nice of the Golf Course to welcome
hungry and thirsty trail users though!

Mile 20.75 and approaching today's turnaround point ...

At the San Gabriel River Parkway.  The trail does not go under this road, and from the look
of things you go west to continue.  But when Lou checked it out, he found you actually go east
 to the other side of the river to continue.

And now for the views along the return walk

Looking back at the bridge you would cross to continue south on the trail

American and California flags flying over the golf course.  Pretty common to see both
flags together in this state

Always thankful for the nets that protect trail users from powerful golf balls!

The dam is equipped to handle large flood surges, but most of the time there
is a trickle of water.  Especially in the current drought.

View of the river from the top of the dam

Thankful for any water!

Made it back!

Tortoise completed today's 5.43 mile walk in 1:40:14 hours.  Tortoise rating was 6.7, based on 74 feet climbed in the 2.72 mile uphill portion (average elevation 209). However, this walk earned a Benjamin Category Override to 5.0, because of its length over five miles.  Tortoise is feeling every mile of it, and concurs with this override! 798 calories were burned along the way.  

Here is a map of today's route:

And here are the overall stats so far for 2015:

412.31 miles walked, which is 41.15% of Lou's 2015 goal. On this day in 2014, Tortoise had walked 415.21 year-to-date miles.   

124:07:43 hours walked, which is 39.66% of the 2015 goal (which is to walk 1 hour a day on the 313 days other than Sunday in the year)

20,700 total feet climbed, compared with 19,302 feet on this day in 2014.  

61,708 calories burned

40.58% of the year has passed

Lou has walked 15 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11. Overall he has walked on 118 of the 127 non-Sundays in 2015, a 92.91% consistency rating, the same as after 127 non-Sundays in 2014.

The purpose of the percentages is to have a higher percentage of distance and time walked than of the year. This tells Tortoise that he is on track. Yes, this is more numbers than you are likely interested in, all Tortoise can say is he's really good at setting high goals and having them slip away because he doesn't do them every, every day.  (If you doubt this, compare Tortoise's 2013 walking record with 2014 ... for him, it is what it takes to be consistent. And Tortoise feels much more vibrant when he is consistent.  He hopes you find what works for you)

And now for today's walking thought, initially presented in April 1999:

"A few years ago, my wife and I served as a resource to a little inner-city branch of the Church that was composed of about 35 members. The branch president, Daniel Sawyer, a man I greatly admire, may have been the only member of that branch who had belonged to the Church for more than three or four years. Our meetings were held in a row house in one of the most troubled neighborhoods of a large eastern city. The house was located on a street where many buildings had been burned and looted during the extensive riots in 1968, and now, 25 years later, some of those damaged or destroyed buildings still had not been repaired or rebuilt. Up to the front of the row house were a few exterior stairs leading from the sidewalk up through a door which opened to some rooms that had been modified for use as classrooms and as an office. Another door opening right from the sidewalk led down a few interior stairs to the basement, which was furnished with a sacrament table, a podium for the speaker, and folding chairs. Some of the most memorable Church experiences my wife and I have had took place in that setting.

"One Sunday, right in the middle of the branch sacrament meeting, a woman walked in the door off the street. She was a homeless woman who was wearing dirty, ragged clothes, coughing, choking, and blowing her nose into a filthy handkerchief. In a loud, hoarse voice she said, “I want to sing! I want to pray!” and walked right to the front row and sat down next to a member who was wearing a white blouse, leaned against her, and laid her head on her shoulder. The member immediately put her arms around this guest and held her in her arms throughout the remainder of the meeting. It happened that the speaker had been talking about the parable of the good Samaritan ¹ as the woman had come in. As this woman coughed and choked, the speaker continued telling of the parable. As he came to the end of his talk and was quoting a relevant scripture, suddenly, in a loud voice, this homeless woman finished giving the verse that the speaker had begun. In talking of this after sacrament meeting with the speaker, we thought it had probably been a long time since someone had affectionately put an arm around our visitor. We wondered what better illustration you could have of the parable of the good Samaritan than what we had just seen, and we were reminded of the Savior’s words that preceded His telling of that parable, “Thou shalt love … thy neighbour as thyself.” ²

To watch, listen to, or read this message in full, please visit https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1999/04/out-of-small-things?lang=eng #ShareGoodness

Lou really enjoyed hearing this experience while he walked today.  Just the fact the President West chose to share it, and the others he continues with in this address, demonstrates to Lou why Ledge so enjoyed his brief time with this fine man.

The tortoise is smiling!