A View From Above.
I woke up wondering about my destination. I didn't truly plan one, mostly repetitions playing over in my head. Four days ago, I had a nasty fall while hiking a different destination and got cut pretty badly. Four days later, and I was exhausted from bed rest. With my bandaid covering the wound and my compression leggings on, I was ready to document the next hike. I couldn't afford a long hike, nope, but a little strain never hurts, feels like pleasure-pain sometimes on the trail. So, I scanned Yelp for some options and found Mount McCoy! Seeing a picture of the cross did it for me, there was no way I wasn't going, I needed to see it in person.
Mount McCoy Cross is located in Simi Valley, CA. It stands at 12 feet and was installed back in the 1800s. Apparently, It goes far back to being a landmark in 1813, with a new cross installed in 1921. You can read more fun stories about it here, and don't forget to scroll down to the first Easter service photo taken with it in 1921. How fun to have the service with the cross at the top of the mountain. Cool shit!
Anyway, I arrived at about 4 pm on a weekday, it was quite warm and I was fully covered and ready for the flies, bees, and any other friendly and unwelcomed encounter. I took the not-so-smooth trail up, huffed and puffed my way there, and eventually took in the wonderful view from the top. It was a glorious moment getting up there, the black flies of death protected it, flying around, announcing their presence! I didn't care, I walked up to it, turned off my camera, said a little prayer, touched it, and had a moment of appreciation. Afterwards, filming continued, it got windy so didn't get to do a full self-recording spin. I continued my hike around the territory, observing several trail roads and wondering the final destinations of it all.
Eventually, it was time to head down as my kneel ached a bit and I couldn't go further. I made it home feeling accomplished and with a big grin on my face. It was a climactic moment up there.