Practical Unconventionality

Echo Mountain barefoot hike and Martial Arts training

I had heard about Echo Mountain during the Summer last year, but I dismissed it as more of a historical tourist attraction rather than anything I would want to hike.

Earlier this week Casey Schreiner, from Modern Hiker, recommended Echo Mountain as a good hike in the rain. Although we finally didn't make it in the rain, we were pleasantly surprised this Thursday as we visited the old resort ruins and the well named Inspiration Point.

It was a bright sunny day with that amazing, cool, crisp, post rain air.

Somewhere after mile four, we hit snow . . .

Considering I was barefoot, I thought I might be in for some trouble but it turned out to be rather refreshing.

Once at Inspiration Point, the amazing view of downtown LA, the beautiful surrounding landscape, and the inviting man made structures called for some bodyweight strength training, martial arts practice, and meditation before our rapid downhill trail run back to the Cobb Estate.

Filed under // barefoot hiking bodyweight exercises hiking altadena jeet kune do training meditation trail running

Posted January 29, 2010

It's always a good time to enjoy nature

Featuring our official Jeet Kune Do photographer, Mike Jara, this picture is from this morning's six mile barefoot hike and trail run in the rain.

We had the the trail to ourselves. There were a surprising number of animals out and about, despite the rain, so why not us too?

Filed under // barefoot hiking trail running

Posted January 18, 2010

Bareknuckle Boxing in the Arroyo Seco Ruins

Arroyo Seco in Pasadena is turning out to be one of my favorite wilderness parks in LA county. It has an amazingly rich history and was once home to the Tongva (aka Gabrieleño) Native American people.

It also happens to be an area that Nature has repeatedly reclaimed with record setting floods and, more recently, fires.

At the moment, most of the man made structures are in some degree of decay. Although the destruction of people's homes and the loss of life that has resulted over the past century is sad, this beautiful watershed is best left to Nature's design and I hope man made "restoration" stays to a minimum.

The trail varies from easy to rugged and dicey at spots. The charred ruins make for haunting yet strangely beautiful scenery amidst the recuperating wildlife.

Here are a few pictures from our 8 mile (mostly) barefoot run and bareknuckle boxing session. Fun stuff. I didn't realize how much smiling there was amidst all the sparring. There really is nothing like some intense training in Nature with friends.

You can check out these awesome guys at http://www.IlluminatedMind.net and http://www.MikeJara.com and, of course, more from me at http://www.TrueSelfMartialArts.com