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For the past two weeks, I’ve been trapped inside a lot, so this weekend, I was pretty eager to get out and get some fresh air.

With that in mind, I grabbed my camera and headed off to Topanga Canyon. Except, I got tired of driving well before getting to Topanga Canyon (probably had something to do with losing PCH around Wilshire and driving around in circles trying the pick it up again). So, when I saw the turn off to Temescal Canyon, I was like OK — Good Enough.

It’s a nice park with plenty of hiking trails. I was looking for something with a mild gain, but for some reason, when I saw a trail leading up with a bunch of stair carved into the dirt, I figured yep — this is for me.

This hill started out steep, and very quickly got worse and worse and worse. Before long, I swear the incline must have been about 180 degrees. Of course I realize that 180 degrees would normally be perfectly flat, but in this case, I’m using that to indicate a grade that is 2 times steeper than a 90 degree, perfectly vertical wall. What can I say? Euclidean Geometry completely falls apart in the Santa Monica mountains. It’s weird.

So, before too long I was panting and wheezing and so red and sweaty, I think I may have started bleeding from my eyeballs for a minute there. It probably would have been a fantastic workout if I didn’t ruin it by going directly for a giant piece of the most decadent chocolate cake imaginable afterwards. Seriously, each forkful of this delicious treat would keep an African village AND Sally Struthers fat and healthy for like a month. Mmmmmm.

So, I took some photos. They’re OK, but probably not worth the $60 I’m going to end up paying for them after taking care of the parking ticket I got — a ticket which I got because the sign explaining where and how to pay was (I would argue) deliberately invisible in this place.

Now I’m thinking it’s nap time — or maybe time for more cake.