Good waves in socal?

Last weekend I attempted to surf on Friday but it was pretty terrible. I ended up driving back and forth hoping by some miracle I would find semi-surfable waves. Finally, I realized I am addicted to bodyboarding and I couldn't handle leaving without at least getting in the water, so I did. Even though it was barely breaking due to high tide. The water was warm though so I enjoyed the 45 minutes I was in the water. Well, mostly. The beach is a long drive for these kind of sessions, especially on a Friday in LA where traffic is just...not livable. Seriously, how did I end up living here? Fortunately, Josh and I managed to make it to the Mt. Sac Invitational in the afternoon to watch one of his friend's high school team (he's a coach) run in two of the races.

I had never been to Mt. Sac and Josh had never seen an xc meet so it was worth the admission fee. We even got some exercise running around trying to see the runners during different parts of the races.

Saturday was a climbing day. It was foggy and wet but the mountains turned out to be really good climbing weather.

Josh finally did the beginning part of a route that he had problems with earlier and made the end look super easy. I ended up working on another route where I made a lot more progress than before, and if the rope was on the right anchors probably would have sent it. Then the sun came out and made the rock too warm so we moved onto another area.

Its funny though because the ratings on the climbs were WAY off. The one I did was rated way too hard and the one Josh did was rated too easy. By a lot. But its ok because the routes were fun. Josh worked another route before we left but both of us were getting tired and hungry so we packed up and hiked out in clear mountain air.

Its pretty amazing how we can spend a day seeing no people and have no problem with it at all. The mountains are just beautiful.

Eventually we ended up back in "civilization" and shared a hamburger and gravy fries for dinner, which is only acceptable after rock climbing. And would probably taste gross otherwise, but that night it was really good!

Sunday I woke up and attempted to find surf. Looking at the webcams was pretty disappointing, but it looked like the wind had ruined everything already. I decided to go to the beach anyway and get in the water. I checked a bunch of spots and it was pretty bad - as in normal blown out 2-3ft socal. Ugh. That is not bodyboarding and it drives me crazy that those kinds of waves are the norm. Then I pulled up to a spot that completely surprised me. It was about 4-8ft depending on the set and offshore and hollow and thick. What the heck? And peeling down the line for a loooong way. Essentially doing its best pipe but beachbreak impersonation. Huh? I grabbed my websuit and committed to the harder than I expected that morning paddle. But it was sooooooo worth it. Wow. I couldn't believe I was making actual drops into thick waves that were kind of appearing out of nowhere like long period swell does on reef (although the shape wasn't reef shape, of course). My first wave was an awesome surprise since I had taken off right behind a bowl. Sweet!!! There were about six of us trading off peaking, awesome barrels. Not the annoying 4ft barrels that seem to be everywhere in socal. But actual drops into barrels that are rather hard to find. The sets were decently overhead, and everyone was cheering each other on. It lasted about an hour before the tide and wind killed it, when all of us got out. But for that one hour I was super stoked to see real waves! I had gotten pretty tired by then due to not enough breakfast, so I was happy to get out and drive back to the house to take a nap. Josh and I found a tart frozen yogurt place nearby that I hadn't realized was there and cleaned my room before I went to church. The day just seems brighter after those kinds of waves, and tart frozen yogurt doesn't hurt. :) Plus now I have a clean(er) room thanks to Josh since I get distracted by just about everything when I try to do it myself.