Sunday brought a hot day in Southern California. With temps in the mid 80s and a breeze that felt like a hair dryer what better weather than for a hike on one of the steepest trails in Santa Barbara? I had a red eye flight out of Santa Barbara that evening so we decided to brave the heat and stick with the afternoon hiking plans.

The Cathedral Peak trail is a relatively short 4.8 mile round trip hike that picks up 2400 feet of vertical climbing in 2 miles. It’s easy to find the trail head (think Inspiration Point trail head) with parking along Tunnel Road. Cathedral is one of my favorite trails with lots of boulder hopping, climbing and general fun.

We began heading up a bit later in the afternoon and a pair of downward hikers confirmed what we already knew: “It’s awfully hot, are you all really heading to the top?” Yup we sure were.

After a 1:45 hike to the top and two stops in the limited shade of a couple of the bigger boulders, and consuming most of the three liters of water we had brought we finally reached the top. The views are worth it. Between the limited trail traffic, fun full-body hiking requirements, and the views this trail is definitely one of my favorite local trails.

I’ve been playing with my new Garmin GPS watch and while the elevation and distance seem to be quite accurate I just don’t know about the calorie estimates. I burn 1600 calories an hour on a rower and I’m pretty sure I burn 275 calories just sitting in the sun for three hours so I don’t know about that.

Definitely more investigation is needed and I didn’t wear the heart rate strap so perhaps there is something to that.

After making it back to the car it was off to find a shower, a quick dinner, and catch an overnight flight. No better way to start the week than with a hard hike, a lot of sweat, and the greatest lady in the world.