Claremont Loop

California is full of wonders. There’s always something new to discover. Lately for me, it’s been hiking trails. It’s nice to go hiking alone or with great company.

Being only 15 minutes away from my nearest mountain, there is plenty of new trails for me to try out. The newest one that I’ve become fond of is the Claremont 5 mile loop.

I’ve hiked up to half of it a few times already. We’ve gone in the afternoon so we’ve never had enough time to hike the whole thing, so we decided it was time to change that.

I woke up at 5am and got ready. Karina usually struggles a bit to wake up this early but she was eager to hike this mountain. We arrived by 6am sharp and motivated for the long hike.

It was cold and foggy so it was definitely a unique setting already. It took us about 20 minutes to climb high enough to get over the fog and begin to see the sun.

This is probably one of the best views I have ever photographed. The way the early sunlight broke through part of the fog and illuminated everything so beautifully. I couldn’t take enough photos. I’m so lucky Karina has patience with me by being my favorite model.

The fog went through the valleys as we hiked and broke through the peaks as we reached them. Up and down we went for the next hour and a half.

The sun had broken through all the fog by the time we finished the loop. With a memory card full of photos and some soar legs, we reached the car and rested for 10 minutes.

Karina went from a light pinkish orange to a cooked shrimp red. After a quick bite, we knocked out for 4 hours. The hike was a lot more difficult than we expected but it was well worth it for the photos I captured.

Challenge complete.