At around 2pm that day, I received a text from Dima that stated, "Camping on the San Olene Water Tank tonight." I told him I was free and tried to invite myself on the trip, in which he responded with, "No, I'm telling you this so that you get FOMO!"
I love getting spontaneous adventure propositions when I have no plans!
It was on and I began packing my bike as soon as I got home. We met at the Arcadia A line station at 8pm and then met Taco at a grocery store where we then loaded up on alcohol, snacks, and tons of gatorade. The temps outside were either in the 80s or 90s and we were super drenched as soon as we started moving up Santa Anita Drive.
This was my first time biking up to Chantry Flats and I have heard that the road is steep and hard. Before the Eaton Fire, I would regularly bikepack to henninger flats or Idlehour campground and the Mt. Wilson toll road is definitely still the hardest road I've every biked up. I compare every ride up a road to the toll road and Chantry was easy as hell compared to that. We made it to Chantry Flat at 10:06pm where we proceeded to pee and chug lots of water from a barely running water fountain. We hopped on the Chantry Flats Truck Trail which was very shaded (just saying this even though it was nighttime) and smelled like bay leaves for the lower section. As we climbed higher and higher, the chemicals in my brain started to dance a little bit
and the ride became a RIDE! The water tank appeared suddenly and showed off a super sick view of the entire San Gabriel valley all lit up and shit. Dima, Taco, and I pulled out our snacks and drinks and just took it all in. I brought up a bottle of Soju, Taco brought some Sake, and Dima brought beer.
*
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I took a step back in my head and really appreciated life realllllyyy hard for a minute. The fact that I was born and raised in Pasadena, and was introduced to the outdoors alongside my brother Patrick by our Dad and am now 26 years only still out here enjoying it all. Thinking about working in a coffee shop and spontaneously being able to leave my house to then camp on a water tank with two close friends. Having self aware thoughts of existence, breathing air, consciousness, this soju. Being thankful for every single life experience that put me in this moment.
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I had one of the best nights of sleep on a camping trip I ever had and it was made even better due to a westerly breeze keeping us cool throughout the night. I opened my eyes to a partly cloudy sky with the sun just starting to rise to illuminate the air. This is something that happens every single day but this one was just different.
We bombed the hill, got some breakfast at Mary's Market, and went our separate ways back home.
Check in on your friends often
Use eye contact when speaking
Ask about them first
Go outside
Use eye contact when speaking
Ask about them first
Go outside
