57. Full Moon Fever + Peak Dancing

The mystery of the sailing stones of Death Valley, California's very own Blue Zone of health, and full moon dancing ... in this episode Brad and Holly talk about favorite places in California to have full moon adventures, from peak hikes and sand dunes, to guided hikes with wine. Then they're joined by Justin "Just Roc" Rimon, founder of Southern California-based Just Trek, a website and podcast about the great outdoors, including how spending time in nature can help improve both your physical and mental health. The podcast aims to inspire, motivate, and elevate people to a higher state of well-being through adventure filled conversations and guided adventure meetups. Learn about Justin's journey to founding Just Trek and get his excellent tips and ideas on where to go outdoors in Southern California (and do a "summit cypher dance").

It's full moon fever time!

Follow Justin "Just Roc" Rimon on Instagram, @just.trek. Website: justtrek.net
Follow Weekend Sherpa on Instagram, @weekendsherpa and check out all of our content on where to go and what to do outdoors in California at weekendsherpa.com

Episode Transcript

(00:18):
Welcome to the weekend Trip of podcastTake It Outside. I'm Brad Day,
I'm Holly Koolak, and happy firstweek of fall to you. Holly.
How are you feeling about summer beingover and fall being here? I have
a choice. I welcome fall.Yeah? Is it your favorite season?

(00:38):
Every season is my favorite season exceptfor the ramy gray season January, and
I think we're having an El Ninowinter this year. We're gonna have lots
of rain. I find January hard, January February because it's like the holidays
are over dark. I guess therains, so I'm kind of the rains
probably a really good thing, butyeah, those are my so it's all

(01:02):
like it. I guess it's winterseason. It's just like those months.
I'm only November, December, Marchstarts to feel hopeful. Was a good
summer, Oh my gosh. Itwas one of the best summers I've had
in a long time now. Justreally relaxing. Spent a lot of time
with friends, did some really coolthings in Sonoma, and then around like

(01:23):
we went to Tahoe, had agreat time with some friends there. Took
us the dog and barely found dogfriendly things to do until. I was
quite surprised by that, but youknow, it was just you had a
great bike racing season, so Igot to go to a ton of cool
bike or a ton a lot ofcool bike races yea, in cool places.

(01:44):
I mean I really liked going toBend, Oregon, and you did
the Sisters Stampede race. Yeah.Just it was just a great summer and
lucky for us. I know noteveryone had this lock but no, you
know, wildfires, I mean thereis the one in far far northern California,
which is unfortunate, but I thinkthat maybe the rain that we're getting
is tamping that down right now.That's good, I think so, I

(02:05):
hope. So what about you?What were some highlights of your summer?
You know, like like you justlike it's been it's been nice to hang
out at home, take a fewtrips, like do some cycling, hang
out with friends, you know,hang out with Gus the dog. It's
it's been great. What was yourfavorite mountain bike race that you did?
You know, I really like thisone that happened out in in Plumas County

(02:30):
actually called Lost and Found, andit's not a mountain bike race. It's
a gravel bike race, and gravelbiking is basically like road biking, but
with like big tires, not likemountain bike tires, but bigger than road
bike tires, so you can kindof do dirt roads and gravel roads.
And this one has been around forseveral years called Lost and Found, and
it's really really beautiful. Not thatmany people make it up to the Northern

(02:53):
Sierra or the Lost Sierra, andthey have several different routes you can do
on this race, and I didone hundred mile route which was really long,
but you just like you're you're cyclingon these like dirt roads that don't
see many people at all, andyou get like the snow cap peaks and
the wildflowers and just like a reallyfun festive event after after the race is

(03:16):
over too, like with bands andfood and beer and man, I mean
like that first beer after an afterrace just like hits you hard, so
depleted, but that was that wasdefinitely a highlight. And I mean Bend
Bend, Oregon is really fun inthe summer. It's really fun too,

(03:36):
just like with the Chutes River goingright through town and all the brew pubs
scene they have there. It's it'sa blast. Sub Doing a race up
there was cool, and then ofcourse Taha was great, did a really
fun race up there in July.So yeah, no, it's been it's
been great. It's been really reallyfun. But uh yeah, I mean
that now we're transitioning to this thisfall season, and we have a good

(03:59):
fun topic on tap for this podcastepisode. Kind of we're gonna be talking
with with a friend of ours downin so Cal, Los Angeles based adventure
and founder of the podcast and guidedhiking group called just Track. We're gonna
be speaking with Justin Ramone and gettingsome of his thoughts about some of his

(04:21):
favorite hikes and so call some ofhis favorite kind of like nighttime moonlight hikes,
and we're gonna be talking. Beforewe get to Justin, we're gonna
talk a little bit about some ofour favorite full moon adventures because we aren't
coming up on the full moon.Yeah, it's the harvest moon, so
that's a great way to start offfall. I think you get a full
moon over the weekend. It's Friday, so it'll go like Friday, So

(04:44):
it's like Friday, Saturday will begood glow, right, and then obviously
Friday will be Saturday. I feellike we'll still have good glow, and
then Sunday just a little bits soand then it, you know, wanes
from there. Right, wasn't therelike a Charlie Brown cartoon about like the
Harvest Moon or something. I justknow there's this The Great Pumpkin the Neil
Young so the Great Pumpkins about theHarvest Moon. No, I don't know,

(05:05):
But wasn't there like everybody talks aboutthe Charlie Brown Christmas special, right,
but they did a Halloween one too. I think they have a Halloween
one, right, Yeah, theGreat Pumpkin Charlie Brown. That doesn't get
as much love as the Christmas one. Christmas seems so close already. But
yeah, the moon is coming thisweekend, so we're doing some full moon

(05:27):
fever here. But and yeah,I'm speaking with Justin. That conversation is
so great. I had so muchfun talking with him. He's so knowledgeable,
and he just gives some super greattips on some fabulous hiking spots and
just shares a lot of his adventuresand his story of how he came to
found just Track. Just a greatguy. Yeah, absolutely, ah right,
But first we know we're gonna doa little bit of news. I
wanted to know if you know theyou know, the sailing stones of Death

(05:53):
Value, which is more well knownas the race track pliat Right. We've
never been, which is the funnything because we go to definitely National Park
is one of my favorite parks.Yeah, we go there off well quite
often, been there a few times, and yet we have not been to
the racetrack. Can you give ourreaders a little bit or a listener story.
We're doing a podcast, not theemail newsletter. Can you give our

(06:14):
listeners a little bit of a backgroundon the racetrack. Well, I haven't
been there. I want to gothere. I think the reason we haven't
been is because it's it's a bitof a trek to get out there.
I think it's a few hours fromkind of like the main visitor center,
like maybe like three hours or fourhours like one way, yeah, to
get out to the racetrack. Yeah, but it looks absolutely amazing and you've

(06:35):
probably seen these. There are thesebig rocks stones that have like looks like
they've been moving for centuries or millenniaor something, right just out in the
desert, and it's like, well, how does this happen, and I
remember I saw some documentary about itor some I don't know if it's a
national geographic thing or some kind ofsixty minutes or something about it. I

(06:58):
think it's a big mystery right time, I'm asking you. Do you know
they solved it in twenty fourteen.Yeah, that was the thing that I
think I saw, And if I'mif I'm remembering correctly, it has to
do with like when it freezes atnight, like when it gets really cold,
and then as this as the freezemelts, it kind of moves a
little bit, like so they getsome momentum from from the ice when it

(07:20):
freezes out there. I think mysteryyou kind of solved. It's like it's
been this huge mystery and then scientistscame along. No, I'm not describing
it very scientifically. Well, itwas basically no, but you're right.
I mean, it's that desert climatesare like blisteringly hot during the day typically
and then at night they're super supercold, and then occasionally death Value will

(07:43):
get rains. So this is primarilywhen I have it, So they'll get
like a winter rain, and you'reright, the landscape gets a little bit
of ice freezes a little bit andthen it melts, but underneath the rocks
it's still frozen, which kind ofleads to just want like start moving along.
But it is it probably like alittle bit of d or is it

(08:05):
like some kind of like movement LikeI think it's just once it starts melting,
like even though even like a littlebit of wind. Yes, can
just like very slightly move it,and it can trick your eyes because it
can be happening before you, guys, but you might be thinking. It's
the way this slant of the sun, right, and it's very subtle and
it happens very slowly, but likeit leaves this path. Yeah, that's

(08:26):
so cool. I knew we gotto get out there and check that out.
I know. Well, you knowsomebody was saying that it's a great
place to go for sunrise. Thatmeans you have to get up really early
and oh yeah, like you don'teven go to bed, right, maybe
not, or if you do getlike an hour get up at three in
the morning, I guess, takesome coffee and go see the race track.
Anyway, it's coming up to theseason where Death Valley, you know

(08:46):
about like October November, right,starts to become manageable. Yeah. No,
it's it's a great place to gowhen it's not hot. There were
some deaths. There was a massiveheat wave and people were doing crazy things.
Yeah, I remember, did yousee this story. This came out
sometime in the middle of the summerwhen it was going through a crazy heat
wave in Death Valley and somebody fromthe La Times was there to just document

(09:09):
it, and she ended up takinga photograph of this kind of older guy
from Soco who was hiking in DeathValley kind of during this heat and he
had like, you know, thebig hat, and he had like the
long sleeves and all this stuff,and he was catching some shade underneath one
of those like information signs. Hewas just like parked underneath it, like
kind of catching some shade, andthey took a photo of him, interviewed

(09:30):
him a little bit. He endsup dying a couple of days later from
exposure to you know, being aDeath Valley and hiking. It's just like
tragic, tragic story. Yeah,and it's a qutionary tale, I guess
so. Yeah, But I meanyou go at the right time of the
year, it's magical. I mean, death Valley got that golden and canyon,
going out to the obviously the sanddunes, especially during a full moon,

(09:54):
catching the sunset from the sand dunes, that's just like next level magic.
You are right, that's that's onmy list of among the favorite places
to watch a moment. That's Okay, we'll talk about we'll get into it
later, but yeah, I meanit's it's just a fabulous place. Okay,
let's move on to California's So I'mwatching this program Blue Zones, which
is by National Geographic and it's onI think Netflix, on the Blue Zones,

(10:20):
And there's a blue zone in California, Low Melinda. But let's uh,
what is the blue zone? Oh? Right? The blue zone is
where people live. The most peoplelive to be one hundred years old?
Are those centenarians? Centenarians I thinkcenturions, I don't know, no,
mall dinosauric librarian. They live tobe a hundred or older. Yeah,

(10:43):
the highest population of that, right, And there's like, you know,
Costa Rica has like a blue zone. Yeah. Where are the other ones?
Can you name them all? No? The Okinawa and Japan has one,
there's this little island, and Greecehas one. You're doing good.
That's three four? Is the onein California? The one in California?
And was there one in Italy?Like, oh, yes, Sardinia Sicilia.

(11:09):
I don't know, so I thinkssome island in Sicily. I think,
yeah, anyway in Italy. Yeah, it's an interesting show. Yeah,
and Loma Linda is one of theplaces. It's a blue zone in
southern California. And there's all thesereasons that the host goes into about,
like why they think that people areliving long from like you know, they

(11:31):
they're active, right, They theygo upstairs, they walk up hills,
they garden, and you know,they're always kind of keeping a core like
core muscularity for example, even justthrough doing stuff like that. And then
their diet like you know, who'sdrinking coffee. There's wines in there,

(11:52):
right, like Halley red wine isnot that bad for you. Lagoons,
Yeah, a lot of lagoons.What was Loma Linda? And they kind
of take one specific thing about anarea in particular that kind of stands out.
I feel like Looe Melinda was maybeactivity, right, Yeah, they
seem to be pretty active well,and a lot of that is based off
of the religion that's I don't knowif it's founded there, but it's like

(12:13):
a hot spot for this particular religionsthat adventist is that it might be.
Yeah, I don't. I thinkthat might fit and just kind of the
lifestyle that goes along with that.But yeah, it's it's an interesting,
interesting program, and it's it's interestinghow he kind of, like the narrator
or the person who wrote these booksabout the Blue Zones, goes from all
these different places across the globe whereyou have this kind of disproportionate number of

(12:39):
people living to one hundred and tryingto connect kind of like a through thread
on what is the common denominator here? And you know, it's not just
the diet. I know, wewe tend to focus a lot on the
diet, and the diet is notbad and at these places at all,
you know they are eating a lotof lagoons, a Mediterranean diet and the
one and in Greece, But there'salso other kind of common threads like that

(13:07):
being feeling like you have this kindof sense of community around you. Yeah,
right, Like it seems like lonelinesscould be something that doesn't contribute to
living long. You know so,and this isn't something that they're forcing in
these little bubbles across these blue zones. They're not forcing like to not be
lonely, or to like to moveevery day, or to eat healthy.

(13:30):
It's just kind of it kind ofcomes with the lifestyle of where they they
live, you know. And butthis is the common thing, this kind
of sense of purpose also seems tobe you know what, what kind of
contributes to people living to be soso old in these these particular places,
and of course not eating a lotof processed food. You know, it's

(13:52):
not a heavy amount of fish,surprisingly except for the one and maybe in
Japan they a ton of fish there. But yeah, it's it's interesting to
kind of see what, you know, what contributes to these people living so
long and how many how much ofthat lifestyle matches your current lifestyle or what
changes maybe you need you need tomake if you want to live to be

(14:13):
a hundred and who knows if youdo. I mean, my grandma lived
to one hundred and two and shewas definitely not a Blue Zonner. She
wasn't. No it's skin. Idon't know how she had that. She
used to bake in the sun inHawaii like for all of her years,
like she was a sun queen.Oh yeah, I don't know how,
but she always took good care ofher skin. Yeah but no, yeah

(14:37):
she I mean it's not like itwas terribly unhealthy, but like it wasn't
like blue zone material. Yeah,well you're lucky you got those genes.
Oh, I don't know, don'tdon't, I don't know. Let me
knock on wood knocking, but Ithink yeah, but I did think the
community element was really interesting about friendshipsand spending time with friends and just around
your community and the support you getwith that. I thought that was really

(14:58):
interest, especially just because when wewere in Taho this year, we were
staying with friends that we hadn't seenin a long time, Dave and Megan
and their wonderful kids, and itwas really great. It was so fun,
and I got that sense of,you know, I don't know,
just friendship and hanging out and doingfun things. Yeah, if you could

(15:18):
live that lifestyle, you'd be potentiallya blue zone. Yeah exactly. Okay,
So before we get to some ofour favorite Puhomon HIGs, one more
thing. You know, I wastalking last time in our last podcast about
an Instagram handle that's like focuses onpeople doing dumb things in national parks and

(15:41):
it's torons of national parks. Howdo you spell thou are o n as?
I think it's supposed to be aplay of morons and national parks,
like tourists. Yeah, so peopledoing dumb things and in places so we
can shup out. We had anexample. We were very fortunate to be
able to be in Monterey this pastweekend for some special editorial that we're doing

(16:04):
that will be coming out in afew weeks, and we went on what
I think is America's best coastal bikeride. I'm coming through with it on
the Recreation Trail. Yeah, Andpart of our stop towards end was it
was late day and we stopped Lover'sPoint. It's very popular, it's very
romantic. It's this pocket beach witha sea stack. And you said,

(16:26):
you know, these two are goingto get like the tide was coming in
and the waves were pretty significant,and these two they're they're taking some risks
down there, and it was itwas a couple and they were taking their
selfies in their photos and then heproceeded to climb up onto that giant sea
stack with all the rogue waves comingin behind him that we're at times washing

(16:49):
over the sea stack. Yea,he made it, thankfully. But I
was standing there thinking I don't wantto witness like some giant wave and didn't
think it was kinda like it didseem kind of dicey. Yeah, the
way I mean the tide was definitelycoming in. The waves were pretty I
mean they weren't minimal, but theyweren't like they were big enough to give

(17:10):
you pause. And yeah, wherethey were, they was right against the
sea wall and the waves were justcoming up just short of the sea wall,
and they were like right there andI don't know, maybe like fifty
or a hundred feet from the stairway. So they're kind of committed to being
behind the waves, between the seawall and the waves. And there was
that one sea stack that when thetide kind of receded from each wave,

(17:33):
he would run to the sea stackto jump up on top of it,
clamb on it, and then likethe waves would crash around it and it
was back to it. And thenlike she was getting a photo, and
I remember I mentioned it to mydad. I was like, yeah,
we saw some this couple like takingselfies at the lover's point on top of
some like rocks and it looks superdicey. He's like, oh yeah,
so a couple died there like maybeten years ago. The unfortunately though,

(17:56):
what was in newlyweds and she wasgetting her photo and she got swept off.
That's unfortunate. So I'm not goingto say there are morons. I'm
just gonna say it's a headshaker.I'll do nice. It's because those sneaker
waves come up. The other thingis like sneaker waves are interesting because you
don't they don't always look they canlook very innocent kind of from a distance.

(18:18):
Right, they always scare me whenwe're at the beach, Like not
always, but you know, ifit's like there's a lot of waves,
I'm always kind of aware of,Like you are vigilant and aware of your
surroundings, all right, So movingon to full moon hikes in the Bay
Area and beyond that California places youcan get to watch the sunset and get

(18:40):
back to your I know what,like, what are some of your what's
a place that you like to goor would like to go or think would
be cool under a full moon inCalifornia. We've written about a few places
that are really cool in the BayArea and in southern California to during the

(19:00):
full moon. One of my favoriteplaces and it's not even that specific,
it's just being on a backpacking tripin the Sierra Nevada. I just anywhere.
If you're like camping high up inthe Sierra Nevada on a backpacking trip
and you have a full moon,it's just magical. It's so cool.
You can just like it's being ableto see the peaks around you and if
there happens to be a lake thatyou're camping by, just I love it.

(19:22):
But if you want to do somethingkind of more local to the Bay
Area at least, Sugar Loaf RidgeState Park, which is up in Snowma
Valley, is a place that we'vewritten about as as a really cool full
moon full moon hike. And whatmakes it, what makes it great is
like from the very from the summit, you hike up to Bald Mountain and

(19:45):
it's about what is that is thatthree miles each way something like that,
So it's no walk in the park. You're you're gaining over a thousand feet
of elevation it's a solid hike,but you know, it's a summit.
So after the you know, asthe sun setting and the full moon is
rising, you're going to be goingdown like downhill. And it's on a
fire road, on a fire road, and it's not like a sketchy trail.

(20:07):
It's a pretty wide fire road thatwe've hiked down in the dark a
few times with a headlamp, andnot so sketchy. But it's it's amazing.
From the top of Bald Mountain,I mean, you get really cool
views of Snowma Valley, you canlook at Glen Ellen and Kenwood going up
north to Santa Rosa, and youcan even see out to the Pacific Ocean

(20:29):
behind you. On if it's areally clear day, you can see this
here Nevada Range. So it's justit's really cool and it's see the sunset
or even just a full moon.I mean, it's just it's really fun.
Yeah, it's on our website too. The story is if you want
to find the route, we've gotit on our website. Just search for
Sugar Loaf Ridge State Park. Yeah, and I think that this weekend on

(20:52):
Friday, for the full moon,there's a meetup going on like kind of
you know the meetup groups where you'redoing like a potlock. So if you
can think if you just do likefull moon Sugarloaf meet up, you'll find
the information and you each bring likea dish and then you hike up.
So that's a great that's cool.That's really fun. Get onto that.
Yeah, I'd love to do that. Yeah, we've gone up, you
know, we've brought burritos. Yeah. Yeah, it's really good when you've

(21:18):
done a long hike though. Yeah, and yeah, I think all in
it six miles and you can goup one way and which connects to the
fire road and then just go downvia the fire road. It's great.
That's a great. That's a greatone. What's another good one? Well,
I mean I heard about so youcan you know, I like I
always like going to Space and ScienceCenter, and actually Sugarloaf has that as

(21:40):
well. It has the observatory thereas well, so they may be doing
some stuff for the full moon aswell. But Shebo Space and Science Center
is doing a guided full Moon hikeand sip, so yeah, it includes
wine and I think they vary hikeand yeah, full moon hike and sip.
Yeah, so it's a guided hikeand it's a moderate and it's about

(22:02):
twenty minutes. Yeah. Yeah,this Friday, and then they have another
one coming out Halloween weekend because there'sa full moon Halloween weekend. In fact,
I think you can dress up soit's like the Halloween full Moon hike
and sip wow. And yeah,they probably vary the road a little bit,
just depending on whatever weather or timeare you dressing up for Halloween.
No, I don't have a costume. Well I have a Grinch costume.

(22:23):
You do, but I've had threeyears. It's one. It's a onesie.
It works, it's warm. Yeah, just to go to go to
like yeah, yeah, I meanI've tried to be creative over the years,
but I don't know how to sewfirst of all. So and Halloween's
not my best season. It's notyou get you get through it. I

(22:44):
get through it. I buy candyevery year hoping kids will come to my
front door, and they never dobecause I live in a place where they
don't have a slidewalk or lights.It could be that that one time that
the kids did come to the housethat you decided to take like photos of
them. I asked their permission.This was the first year we lived.
I think it's an and I couldn'tbelieve it. They were about ten years
old and they came and I'm like, can I just take your photo as

(23:07):
proof? And the dad's on theyou know, like driveway, like uh
huh. But that was kind ofback before people were doing like Instagram.
It wasn't so creepy, right,It was just so that I had proof
and I thought it was adorable.And ever since then, no one has
ever come to our hotel. Andyou maybe that word got out watch out
for the creepy Maybe up the bulldog. I think I'm just going to make
him a ghost. It's an easycostume. And he's a white bulldog.

(23:30):
There you go with like dot puta sheet over him, like have some
holes in the eyes. Yeah.Can you you wanted to be a french
Maid? I know we've had thisFrench Maid. I don't even think you
can get costume anymore. I don'tknow if that's woke. What. I
don't know if you can get afrench maid costume anymore for a bulldog real
it's because it's not woke. Idon't know if it's not I don't know.

(23:52):
I'm not even sure I know whatwoke. I know it has a
lot of different interpretations, but yeah, I don't know. Are you going
to dress? I don't think so. Yeah, I mean I don't have
any I do not have a goto onesie like you do. Maybe I
need to get on. I thinkyou should be like, what's the movie
Anchorman? Oh? Ron Burgundy?Yeah, be Ron Burgundy. Then you

(24:15):
have to like imitate wrong Burgundy allnight. That could be exhaust like like
who what movies have been out?Like? You certainly don't want to go
as Offenheimer. No, that's notreally a Halloween fodder nobby. You go
with Ken, great Ken, andyou do have a blue suit that you

(24:36):
wore to a prom, the Dumband Dumber suit. You totally go is
Ken? Yeah? Where I meanwhere would I go? Kenner? Just
don't know a restaurant, press upand hand out chocolates to pretend you don't
haven't really showed up anyway. Thishike and sip you can find out about
it on Shebo Space and Science Center. I just thought that was really cool.

(24:57):
I'd like to go do that.Yeah, that sounds fun, but
yeah, going back to death Valley. I have been lucky enough to go
there a couple of times, Ithink under with full moons, and it's
so wonderful to go out to theMesquite flat sand dunes because you park your
car, you walk about half amile or a mile out to a dune
climate, hang out, watch thesunset like it. Just bring a little

(25:19):
picnic if you want. And it'sone of the most beautiful places I think
in the world to catch a sunset. It is, and a sunrise too,
like sunrise a z Aprisky points sunsetat the sand dunes. I mean
you're you're kind of you got allof it going. There's like lavender across
the Panama Mountains when it sets.Yeah, And I mean they're really special.

(25:41):
The dunes are amazing. And thenyou have like you don't have a
long walk back to the car,and you can kind of see the parking
lot right right like lights. Yeah, no, it's kind of Yeah.
You get a lot of people whogo out there, not sketchy to get
back to the car, but everybodyspaces themselves out because I mean they're the
sand dunes are immense for so manywe have all this privacy. Yeah,
and then you walk down or dothe log roll down the dune YEP.

(26:03):
And last time we were there wedid that and a roadrunner round in front
of us. We think it wasit was a road runs a little dark,
but we're claiming roadrunner like that wasreally cool. What else? What
else would you like? What aboutkayaking or beach or you mentioned backpacking?
Yeah, backpacking is always good.Yeah, some good kayak trips would be
fun. I mean I've done I'vedone one out of Saucelito. That's pretty

(26:26):
cool. There's you can do someat Point Raise and there's a Blue Waters
kayak I do. I don't knowif they offer full moon I think they
do, do they They run areally good operation. Yeah, getting out
on the water is always a coolthing to do during a full moon.
I remember I was with my cousincamping a couple of years ago. It
was actually the COVID summers like twentytwenty at Utica Reservoir out in the Sierra

(26:49):
Neval. It's so cool and it'ssuch a great place to go camping and
go kayaking, and I remember wetook the kayaks out. He had a
couple of he actually had three kayaksfor himself. His wife and for me
and after dinner and it was kindof like sunsetting and getting dark, we
all got on kayaks and we're justpaddling around and it was so calm and

(27:11):
peaceful and just beautiful. It's justit's a very and those instances can be
like a very like meditative type experience. Oh wow, that sounds so cool.
It's really fun you because that's anamazing place to car camp. I
think a good place would be.And it just it comes to mind because
at Halloween a couple of years agowe did this and if there was a

(27:33):
there's going to be a full moonat Halloween. So if you can get
a campsite at Salt Point State Park, yeah, that would be because the
sunsets there I love, like it'sjust like when it's this is and this
is what our issues about this week. You know, where you can see
a spectacular sunset and then watch themoon rise. Yeah you know, and
you could be heaking back to thecars that's happening, or you can stay
in some cases because it's so short. The Salt Point, Salt Point on

(27:56):
the Snoma Coast is is really cool, very very beautiful, and I mean
for car camping. It's hard tobeat. I mean, you pull into
your car camping spot and you knowyou can just like walk down to get
an ocean view. It's just it'sit feels very like each campsite is kind
of like nicely spaced from the nextone. It's not all clogged together,

(28:18):
so it feels like you have alittle bit of privacy. But I love
love camping. You know where elsewould be good now I'm thinking about it
is right in the middle of SanFrancisco Bay, two great islands, Alcatraz
and Angel Island. I mean youcan only camp at Angel Island, and
we've done that a few years ago. That was super fun and being able
to kind of like if you couldcatch Angel Island camp site on the full

(28:41):
moon, that would be awesome.But Alcatraz does have their night tours,
right, so when you finish yourtour, you're coming back on the ferry.
I think it's after the sun isset, right, you get to
catch the sunset at Alcatraz and comingback and at night. So if you
could line that up with the fullmoon, that would be kind of cool
to a nice idea. Yeah,it was. I don't remember last time

(29:03):
I was at Acatraz. It's actuallywe went a couple of years ago from
work. We did a story onthe birds around there. Yeah, kind
of the outdoor area. That wasgreat. Yeah. We went to Tony's
Pizzeria, which they just won.Like I think they were the only pizzeria
in the US. I might bewrong on this, Like they did like
a top hundred pizzerias in the world, and Tony's made it up in North
Beach Yeah, and North Beach.Yeah, that place is great. I

(29:26):
know, I love it. Wehaven't been there a long time. I'd
love to go back. What aboutI was thinking about place I haven't been
on a full moon, But I'mlike Taft Point in Yosemble. Other than
the fact that, why do Iimagine people doing crazy things and here a
full moon round on the edge ofTaft Point, because you've seen it when
it wasn't a full moan, Yeah, and it was crazy. It was
crazy building handstands. I think shewas a gymnast maybe, I don't know.

(29:49):
We didn't really do an interview tosee what was going on there,
but she was doing some crazy stuffat the edge of Taft Point. I
really wonder if that would have madetourns of National Park had it existed,
then I mean, yeah, kindof, I mean right on the edge,
and I realize it's like, Idon't know, Instagram, I have
such a love hate with in somany ways because it's like I don't want

(30:10):
to get into it. That's awhole other podcast episode. But like it's
for the Graham, right, you'redoing this stuff and Okay, it looks
really cool, but I don't know, what if you just have a sudden
head rush and then yeah, that'sit, that's game over, no repeats.
People love the adrenaline anyway, goodfor that person. I wouldn't do
it, But I wonder on afull moon, keeping away from the edge
if that hike would be kind ofcool. I think it would be because

(30:33):
it's not that far to hike outto Taft Point. A lot of people
go out there for sunset, yeahright, and then they come back by
head lamps. So yeah, ifyou could time it with the full moon,
that would be really cool. Yeah. What about mammoth lakes like Crawley
Lake. Yeah, Crawley Lake,that's a great sunset spot. Yeah,
and line it up with a fullmoon. That could be really special.
All those lakes up there, likeGeorge, this high elevation looks like little

(30:56):
Switzerland. It does. Yeah,it's it's really cool. Yeah, Mammoth's
great. The Eastern Sierra is beautiful. I mean just catching like the silhouette
of the Eastern Sierra during a fullmoon is really be really cool. And
for our listeners, if you havesome favorite places to recommend for full moon

(31:17):
adventures, we'd love to hear them. Drop us a line at adventure at
weekend sharpa doctor. Is that whatwe're using? Is it info or is
it adventure? You could do either. You can do adventure. We can
shap our info, we can share. They'll both get to Yeah, they'll
both get to us. We'd loveto hear your ideas. Yeah, because
we don't have a call in show, so people can't call in. Can't
It's not Howard Stern. But let'sshould we get to our guests lutely.

(31:41):
Okay, we're gonna talk to ournewfound friend, Justin Ramone from just Track.
We're here with Justin just Rock Ramone, who is the founder of just
Track, a transformational website and podcastabout the great outdoors, including how spending
time in nature can help improve bothyour physical and mental health. The podcast

(32:04):
aims to inspire, motivate, andelevate you to a higher state of well
being through adventure filled conversations and guidedadventure meetups in southern California and some points
beyond. I'm so happy to betalking with you. Welcome Justin. Oh,
this is such an honor. Ilistened to a handful of your guys's
episodes, and I've been familiar withthe Weekend Serpa even back to my college

(32:29):
years, which was like I wentto college back in two thousand to two
thousand and eight. So this issuch a crazy moment to, you know,
be here with you having a conversation. I'm really into it. That's
amazing. And you're and you're agingus. Come on, I know,
why did I mention that I'm agingmyself as well too? But yeah,

(32:50):
it was twenty nine, I know, I'm on my what is it?
I'm on my fifteen year anniversary oftwenty eight one exact? Well, can
you tell us? I know youand I have talked about this before,
but can you tell our listeners aboutthe evolution of just Track and what inspired
you started and your story A bitabout your story? Yeah? Sure,

(33:10):
So It's a pretty wild whenever Ireflect back on just starting just Trek and
just how it's evolved to many differentparts of the platform, being that it's
a hiking group, we also haveapparel, and it's also a podcast.
You know, I was nothing outdoorsybefore April twenty seventeen. I actually was

(33:31):
probably the complete opposite. I comefrom the dance community, the dance world,
producing those kind of events, andI lived in like the dance studios
and would battle in these underground dancetournaments. And I just went through this
like hiking metamorphosis transformation back in twentyseventeen because the years prior to that,

(33:52):
I actually had stopped dancing and Iwas in a rough patch in my life,
you know, I was going throughdepressive episodes and just lost my purpose
and felt lost. And that absenceof dance in my life eventually led me
to hiking. And I just firststarted hiking in the Malibu Mountains, the
Santa Monica Mountains just because I neededsomething like a new outlet, a new

(34:12):
physical outlet that I could release myenergy into. And I just had the
thought that I'd been here, LikeI mentioned earlier, I moved out here
for College from the East Coast backin two thousand and four, and I
realized, after like thirteen years ofliving here that I was like, yo,
I haven't actually ever explored our localtrails and mountains, even though I

(34:36):
see them like hidden in the distancewhen I'm at Venice Beach, or I'm
in downtown LA see San Gabriel Mountainsin the distance, or even if I'm
roaming around you know, Miracle Milemid CD, I see the Griffith Park
Hills. You know, I seeit, but I don't really actually see
it and internalize it. And itjust still blows my mind that it took
me thirteen years to actually have athought like, oh, why don't I

(34:58):
actually go out there and explore.Of course, I've been to the beach.
I've been to many beaches, butI never set foot on the actual
trails went up the hills to theoverlooks, went deep into the canyons or
forests. So it was those beginninghikes in April twenty seventeen in Malibu in
the Santa Monica Mountains that really laidthe foundation of just trek and I just

(35:19):
started accumulating, like so much photosfrom these hikes. I would just hike
with one other friend of mine,Mark Nietta, who was actually my episode
one guest. And just because Ihad all these photos, I was like,
I need to have like a separateInstagram account. So just Trek as
the first iteration was just the Instagramaccount with the collection of my hiking photos,
my outdoor photos. And then Ialways knew in the back of my

(35:42):
mind that at some point I wantedlike a group of people or a crew
to share these adventures with, becausewhen I from the dance world, in
that community, you're typically a partof different dance crews, and I was
a part of three of them,and I just knew I wanted that camaraderie
and that community at some point onthis hiking and outdoor journey. So the

(36:02):
evolution is it was first an Instagramprofile. We just you know, very
pretty photos, gorgeous overlooks, alwaysjust trying to come up with like witty
captions. And then two years laterI started evolving Just Trek as an actual
hiking group known as the Just TrekCrew, and we held our first like
community group Pike. It was inAugust twenty nineteen, so we just celebrated

(36:28):
our four year anniversary not too longago in Malibu, and that really just
sparked something. You know, liketwenty people came out. We just did
a sunset group pike at the CulverCity Stairs, which is in West LA
It's like two hundred eighty two stonesteps. I call it like the outdoor
StairMaster. And then from then westarted hosting a sunset community group Pike's weekly

(36:50):
for those first two months, andthen I wanted to bring people further out,
you know, deeper into the SantaMonica Mountains, the San Gabriel Mountains,
Griffith Park, everywhere in between italso like beyond there. So yeah,
we've we host monthly community events.So just Trek became a hiking group
and community because we would have peoplefrom like all over. So kel just

(37:12):
joined us to join like minded people, to be in community, to feel
welcome, to feel safe. Andthen a year later after I launched the
launched the hiking group. You know, it was twenty twenty. So remember
back then when they closed their localtrails and mountains back in March or It's
like how is this even possible?Like I didn't know you could close the

(37:36):
outdoors, Like what the hell?Like we go to these places for so
much our mental health, our physicalhealth, our spiritual health. And I
just remembered, like back in Marchtwenty twenty, I was so greatly upset,
just like you were, and therest of the world was. I
just had this thought in my mindthat well, if I can't be in
the outdoors, I'm going to talkabout it and just share my story,

(37:58):
my transformation and all along with elevatethe voices of others in the community that
I've met along the way. Sothat's been like the evolution of Just Trek.
It's it was just an Instagram profile, pretty photos as a hiking group
in community, and then it evolvedalso to an outdoor adventure podcast where I
interview all kinds of people just likeyou do in the outdoor community. Whether

(38:20):
it's inspirational hikers, outdoor entrepreneurs,writers, bloggers, wildlife photographers, you
name it. It's a pretty diversearray of guests that we've had on the
show. So yeah, I justbeen cultivating this community, this online community
of listeners and also in real lifethrough these community events, and it's been
a really beautiful journey. That's uh, this whole Just Trek platform has just

(38:44):
been life changing. That's amazing.What just going back to April twenty seventeen
and you're you know, you're notin a great place and you're you know,
you're not doing your your dance group, and the outdoors came around.
How did that? What was whatdid a friend come to you and be
like, hey, let's go ona hike or like, how did that?

(39:04):
What was kind of the catalyst forthat? Yeah, So during that
time, I was in a depressiveepisode, Like there's couple of months right
before April twenty seventeen or just forthat those last year and a half to
two years, and you know,I started going to the gym again and
that was good. It started makingme feel better about myself. And also,

(39:27):
you know, your physical health iscompletely tied to your mental health,
right, It's the probably one ofthe number one things that helped reduce anxiety
and depression. And I just soI will go to the gym pretty regularly.
But then I was like, youknow what, I want to do
something on the weekend that feels differentevery time I do it. It feels
like an adventure. So that's kindof how the thought of like hiking came

(39:49):
into my mind. And I alsohad a friend around that same time too.
I think he was also going throughstuff too, but we didn't really
communicate it with each other, butwe just knew, right, especially when
you're with a close friend of yours. So it was really just wanting something
new on the weekends to supplement goingto the gym, and also just to
keep my mind busy to help myselfget out of this depression and funk that

(40:12):
I was in. So it wasreally those two things, the gym and
also just like climbing out of thishole that I found myself in for the
last like two to three years,like prior to me getting into hiking.
Wow, I like your concept ofyou were at the gym and then you
discovered the outdoor StairMaster. I wonderif you can share with us some of

(40:32):
your favorite, you know, adventuresthat you found were really helpful for you
know, getting outside and having someyou know, opportunity to just take a
breather and you know, have somemindfulness outdoors. Where where do you,
like, where did you personally gothat you would recommend to people in this

(40:53):
in Southern California or people visiting SouthernCalifornia. A very special place near and
dear to my heart and also toother people in our hiking group. Is
this place called Sandstone Peak in theSanta Monica Mountains. It's the tallest peak
in that mountain range. I thinkit stands at three eleven feet and I

(41:15):
make sunset pilgrimages to there whenever Ifeel I need to really recenter myself,
reflect on life, and also justto escape the noise of everyday life.
You know, we're always just caughtin this rat race every single day of
needing to be here at this pointin our career or at this point in
our relationship where wherever we are right. So Sandstone Peak, definitely in the

(41:36):
Santa Monica Mountains during sunsets specifically,is this very special place. And also
in addition to the scent to beingsentimental, it's just an iconic socut landscape.
There's there's just surrounding peaks in frontof you, around you. The
three sixty panoramic views are just likeunreal, and you can see the Pacific

(41:59):
Ocean in the distance and Catalina notCatalina, you can see the Channel Islands
on a clear day as well.So when the sun sets, it really
feels like the whole world is blowingbecause all the sun rays are just bouncing
off all the peaks, and there'salso just many different layers to the hike.
There's just massive sandstone formations. There'slike an oak grove that pops out

(42:21):
of nowhere. If you take theMeschmak we're out. And yeah, even
just like the flora out there islike it always, it's always changing every
season. So it's definitely one ofthose hikes that I go to when I
want to reflect, center myself orif I feel like I'm in a funk.
So that's definitely one place you needto bring a headlamp. I guess
if you're going at sunset, howhow long is that hike back after the

(42:45):
sunsets back to the trailhead. Yeah, so here's the amazing thing. To
get back to the trailhead from thepeak, it's only one point five miles
and there's actually two ways to getto the peak. There's a long route
via the Mechemakwa Trail, which isabout six point one miles total, or
you can do the direct route asan out and back. You go one
point five up, one point fivedown, So no matter which route you

(43:07):
do, it it's only one pointfive miles from the trail. It's so
it's like a short enough distance inmy opinion, where yes, you're hiking
in the dark and you need ahead lamp, but it's not like you're
like four miles away from the trailheador three miles and I must I gotta
say this, that area is likemore of a remote part of the Santa
Monica Mountains. It is stunning asa night hike. And to also see

(43:30):
the stars in the sky, ohcool. I wonder a lot of people
don't realize that. Like, yes, for sunset, it's in my opinion,
I think it's the best place toexperience a sunset. But once it
transitions to night, oh my god, it's a gorgeous night hike and the
stars are just illuminating like crazy.Is that a good because I'm going to

(43:50):
segue out to that. You know, at the end of September there's going
to be a full moon on theweekend basically right starting I think day.
And yes, I you you knowyou've done some waterful content for weekend Sherpa
do beautiful stories and photos, that'sright. So I've been saying to you,
were some good moonlight hikes, andthat sounds like Sandstone Peak could be

(44:15):
out of full moon really beautiful,So that there's different levels of Sandstone Peak,
and that's one of the ultimate that'sthe super pro tip. If you
go to Sandstone Peak for sunset andthe full moon, you really get the
true majesty of that landscape and thatpeak and that just surrounding area. So
that's definitely one. It is definitelya journey though, because Sandstone Peak is

(44:38):
very deep in the Santa Monicas inMalibu, so it's probably like anywhere from
like an hour and fifteen to likejust under an hour and a half from
like Los Angeles County. I mean, it's within the county, but it's
pretty far out there. But tothrow some other full moon hikes at you,
you can never go wrong with doinga trail at Griffith Park, whether

(45:00):
you're at the observatory or the helipadthere. And you also get the city
night lights, so the full that'salways a great place for the full moon
that you can feel safe because there'slike a community and pretty big population of
people on the trails. Whatever oneyear that you're on another great place,
a super special place for the fullmoon. Also that I hosted a triple

(45:22):
collaboration, Like it was a tonof work. It was with I did
a collaboration with All Trails and LMUOutdoors Club, which is my alma mater.
So we brought all these people,like I think it was like thirty
plus people to Eagle Rock, whichis into Panga Canyon and the Santa Monica
Mountains, and Eagle Rock is thislike massive sandstone pinnacle that just juts out

(45:45):
the side of the mountain. Italmost looks like an asteroid hit the side
of this cliff and it just stayedthere. And that place is a great
place for the full moon, butI'll probably recommend the reflecting back on that.
Just the with like a few people, bringing all those people on the
trail is kind of a lot ofwork. And also you kind of have

(46:05):
to know the trail pretty well.Yeah, it's in a neighborhoods. I
mean, it's in a neighborhood,so they're not so strict with you know,
I think technically you're not supposed tobe there after sunset, but no
one's really regulating, so as abit a renegade of us, but yeah,
you take your chances. But AlesianPark in downtown LA, which is
next to Dodgers Stadium if you wanta quick access from the city, is

(46:30):
also a great place you can seeDodgers. Yeah, exactly. Alesian Park
Griffith Park are great escapes for thefull moon, and there's other ones as
well that I'm blanking out on atthe moment, but those are some full
moon hikes definitely to throw your wayin LA. Those are great tips.
What's so you mentioned that you leadthese group these group hikes. How often

(46:53):
are you doing that? So wedo it monthly and it depends on the
month, so it could be anywherefrom just maybe one community event a month
too. This is at the verymax, mind you, and it's only
if it happens to pan out thisway because of certain opportunities that I can
pass up. But sometimes there's threecommunity events in a month in addition to

(47:15):
the podcast that I host. Soideally I think the right number for me
to keep saying is just one ortwo a month. So yeah, it
just depends on the month. Thefrequency is a bit different, but there's
always at least one per month,and people can find out about it on
your website just track. We'll putthis of course in the in the show

(47:37):
notes, but how can they learnabout it? And I know you post
on your social just track onstage.Yeah. The two main places that I
promote the community events are on Instagramat just trek, just period trek,
and also on our website just trekdot net slash I think it's yeah,

(47:58):
just trek dot net slash event andwe also post the flyer in the RSVP
link on there and we host them. We host these community events as ourselves
as just Trek, and also wedo a lot of collaborations with founders of
other hiking groups, organizations, nonprofitsand also brands as well. That's amazing,
So they would go to people cango to your website and see what

(48:21):
you have cooking for another group groupled hike. Correct, Yeah, you
can see. You can see ifwe have some upcoming events like later in
the month or maybe next month.Just really depends when we lock it in
is when we're able to promote it. But typically when we have a community
group pike, we promoted about twoweeks out. We think that's a good

(48:43):
amount of time where it's not toofar ahead where people forget about it.
So when they do RSVP they're notjust rsvping to take up a spot.
But I think two weeks two weeksprior is a good sweet spot. I
g's wonderful that you're leading those,and it made me think of a story.
Hey, I grew up in Canada, so Brad knows I always bring
in Canadian content. I have aquestion for you about leading those because I

(49:07):
was reading a story recently. Igrew up in Alberta and Bampf National Park
is there, and it was abouta woman who was leading a group and
it was maybe fifteen people in thegroup, and I know the trail that
she was on in Lake Louise andshe's guiding this hike and a grizzly bear
mom and her cub started following them, and you know, she's trying to
like keep her ship together and shedid a good job, but she's thinking,

(49:30):
I'm the only one with bear sprayin this group, and like somebody
videoed a bit of it and iteventually all worked out. But I mean,
mother bear and a grizzly following youis not a great situation. And
you know it all ended up beingsafe, but have you like it is
like kind of I'm sure she saidshe felt a lot of like internal pressure,

(49:51):
but she had to keep everybody kindof calm. It doesn't actually be
something like that, but even likewhen you're leading that, it's got to
feel like you know, you're incharge and people are showing up. Is
do you feel that at all?Or is it just more like, Hey,
we're going for it and it's goingto be super fun. Do you
ever have any incidents happen where you'relike, oh, there's a rattlesnake or

(50:12):
whatever. Oh, yeah, totally. I take being a lead and host
very seriously because, especially on theif it's a very particular trail where there
might be more spicy or technical sections. You know, proper preparation always breeds
success when leading these people into theoutdoors. So it's a lot of the
I do a lot of trail scoutingbeforehand of the actual trail. I always

(50:34):
bring so much extra gear on me, Like people are always asking me like
what are you bringing, Like whydo you have so much stuff? I'm
like, it's just in case forall of you. I've extra hik polls
first a kit, extra water,extra cliff bars, electrolytes like liquid ivy.
I actually come from an experiential marketingbackground and event producing background, so
I've kind of always been in thisrole, and I just applied a lot

(50:57):
of those scale sets and knowledge tohosting group pikes because it's a lot of
the same things. It's logistics,it's planning, it's monitoring, it's observing
the group, being very aware ofyour surroundings. So yeah, I welcome
the pressure because I have a lotof experience with just producing things and leading
things. But yeah, it's alsoa different experience when you're out in the

(51:17):
wilderness and on the outdoors. Youknow. I also make it a conscious
thing whenever with these group pikes thatit's always on like the moderate easy to
moderate level, Like I'm not tryingto like bring a ton of people out
on like a hard, challenging hikeunless it's like a very particular reason.
But yeah, there wasn't incidence.A couple of months ago, I led

(51:39):
a group pike to Trailcanon Falls,which is in the Angelis National Forest the
west side, and it's an actionpacked route. It's only like three and
a half to four miles, butyou cross several streams and there's a high,
narrow ridge and then it descends downto a waterfall. There's like little
mini rocks scrambling, and so wegot to the waterfall and after we had

(52:00):
our good time swimming in the swimmingholes and bathing under the falls, we
had to go back the same waywe came. And you had to go
high up on this ridge and it'svery narrow, and everyone was behind me.
I think there's maybe like twelve tofifteen people, and there was a
massive rattlesnake covering the entire ridge.And mind, you were high up on

(52:22):
a ridge and it's very narrow,so we can't go down and we can't
go up. But just from melike observing different content and also educating myself
from you know, social media andalso just from different websites, you know
this rattlesnake. What I know aboutsnakes is you know, they're essentially blind,

(52:44):
right, So what they do isthey sense vibrations, and they sense
vibrations from the ground. So youdon't want to throw a rock at the
snake or like throw something at it, but you want to hit the ground.
But something that I learned specifically isif you have a hiking poll and
you hit the ground with it,like you know, far enough from the
snake, it'll typically move away becauseif you just stomp your feet, that

(53:07):
might work, but it's not amutt. It's not too powerful of like
an acute pound on the ground forthe snake to really feel the vibration.
So when I actually use the hikingpole and slanted it on the ground several
times, that's when the snake moved, and not when I was stopping my
feet. Only when I used thehiking polls like, oh wow, that
really worked. So it's just likelittle things like that were like as a

(53:30):
leader, you had to do yourbest to if you do encounter this situation,
like what are the proper steps ofprotocol to you know, solve it
or to get around it. Yeah, And also I just know if like
a route has some rock scrambling oris technical a bit that I bring like

(53:51):
extra gloves for like the rock scramblingsection and also hiking poles for like the
steep descents. I always make sureif I'm gonna bring people, like on
a spicy route, that I makesure that myself as a lead, bring
the necessary here if they do needit. And I also I'm very like
observant of people's different levels depending onthe hikes. So yeah, there's there's
been a handful of things and incidencesin terms of like encountering stuff, but

(54:15):
we typically always get around it orsolve it at that moment. Yeah.
The Morald story too is bring hikingpoles everywhere. I never used to use
them, And then you know,I was trekking in the Alps and I
was I actually I borrowed your pairof bread because it was kind of steep,
and what it helped was when Iwas fatigued, Like, yes,

(54:35):
it's great for balance in your knees, but it also it was the balance
for me and kind of the keepinga pace like it helped me putting,
you know, instead of like putone foot in front of the other and
like put one pole in front ofthe other. Yes, now you've given
me a good tip on what elseI can use poles for it by because
I do. I've seen rattlesnakes onthe trail and I often am just like,

(54:57):
oh, you know, wait andhope it'll cross. And that waiting
game can be too long if youdon't hit the ground. Just be because
with us it was like and wehad a dog with us as well,
when we were waiting for the snake. I was like, oh, this
could be a really bad situation justbecause of where we were exactly on the
Redgim like, good thing. Iknew this knowledge because this could have been

(55:20):
bad or the dog could have beenbitten, and there was a good thing
that I was in front. Andthen also it like it moved away into
the brush. But we had toalso be more patient because it wasn't like
it was still next to the trail, so we didn't want to like go
buy it. And then it lungeout at us because even when it was
still far away started rattling at us. We're like, oh shit, like
we gotta keep going. Get someone, So you take I take it.

(55:45):
Most of these these hikes that thatyou're leading there in southern California, right
correct, La County or the immediatesound surrounding areas of La County? Cool?
Do you venture out into like theeastern Sierra or southern Sierra like around
Sequoia or have you? Are youthinking about trying to branch that out a

(56:07):
little further into other parts of California? Oh? Yeah, Whenever we do,
like we go further out, it'susually it's a it's a private event.
Just amongst like the core members ofthe hiking group. It's not a
public thing. We actually part ofour four year celebration of the Just Trek
Crew the hiking group. The firstweekend of August, we did an Eastern

(56:30):
Sierra's trip, so we stayed atOh my god, Eastern Sierras is just
the most spectacular place in the world. Like, it's actually funny we're talking
about this because I was listening toyour latest pod about the Northern Sierras and
Plumas County. Yes, I'm sointrigued by it, like I need to
finish the rest of the episode.But just the whole Sierra Nevada, Eastern

(56:52):
Sierra's is such a magical place,as you know, it's alpine lake heaven.
But yeah, we do. You'reout of La County. We'll go
to Joshua Tree. Maybe we'll gosomewhere like in further down in so Cal
like San Diego. Yeah, butthose those specific group pikes or group adventures
are private events. I would say. Cool. And where did you go

(57:15):
in the Eastern Sierra for your foryour anniversary trip? Oh man, we
went everywhere, so we can't atUpper Gray's Meadows And then we did a
few miles of Carsage Pass, whichare you guys familiar with Carsage Pass.
It's a big one, isn't it. It can be if you complete the
full route, it's like eleven milestotal. And if you complete the full

(57:37):
route, you hit like eleven lakes. But here, but here's the spectacular
thing about that trail. I wouldactually argue this might be the most gorgeous
trail I've ever been on. Period. If you just hike even three to
four miles in you see five lakesalready. Wow. So we did that
on the first day that we arrivedat the camp site. It was hilarious.

(57:58):
And then the second day we wentto Convict Lake where we just lounged
around on the rocks and swam andjust did the walk around Convict Lake two,
which is was surprisingly really epic.And then we went to Mammoth and
we checked out the Mammoth Springs,the thing it's called Wild Willies, and
we went there for sunset and ohmy god, that was my first time

(58:20):
at a hot spring. The wholehiking group just fell in love with it.
It was a big hit. Highlyrecommend checking that out on here if
any of your listeners have not beenthere. And then we ended the trip
off by going into Lone Pine,visiting this mountaineer shop, eating at a
Alabama Hills cafe, and then wentto Alabama Hills itself too. We did

(58:42):
one of the I forgot the nameof the hike, but it was,
you know, we just exported aboutAlabama Hills and found we found Snoopy Rock.
I don't know if you guys arefamiliar with the Snow Rock. Yeah,
yeah, it's crazy. There's thishike that leads through the boulders and
you scramble around a little bit andthere's a rock that the head the top
of the rock looks exactly like Snoopy. It has like this black ear,

(59:07):
and then the face looks exactly likeit, and then you have the Eastern
cras snow Captain the background. It'slike the trippiest site. I'll have to
show it to you guys. Ohnice, I'm sure. Did you get
a lot of good video of thattoo? Videos? Photos we take?
We take too much content. No, you can never do too much content.
That's really cool. And then Iknow you're working with I don't regret

(59:29):
to talk about this, but I'mguessing you are is Quota POxy Yes,
yeah, tell us about that partnership. Congratulations, Yeah, thank you so
much. That was a major onefor us to do. Yeah. So
just recently we launched a community eventsseries with Cotapoxy where we're gonna bring fellow
trekkers and exports to like iconic placesin Los Angeles. So our first community

(59:52):
event, I don't know when thispod is going to be released, but
it is actually this Saturday. We'regonna bring a group of around twenty hikers
or outdoor enthusiasts to this place calledPolos Verdes, which is about thirty five
minutes south of Lax Airport, andI consider it mini Big Sir, so
it's very reminiscent of the iconic landscapesof Big sur which I know you're very

(01:00:15):
familiar with. And it has likeraw coastlines, high coastal bluffs, tons
of tide pools like the Coral reefdownthere's a majestic So we're doing this like
full like because technically summer ends onSeptember twenty third, so it's going to
be a summer sendoff and we're gonnaactually go to the Code of there's a

(01:00:37):
brand new code of Paxi store inElslagundo, So that's going to be the
base camp, and then from therewe're gonna go to Polos Verdes and do
like a short coastal hike and thenbring them down to one of the secluded
beaches for a picnic. Oh,that sounds great, and you have a
couple of those, right, that'llbe upcoming. Yeah, it's gonna be
three. It's we're doing a minibig sur experience Halloween costume hike in October,

(01:01:02):
and then the one in December isgonna be more of like an urban
trek with like a do good component, because a big thing with Coda POxy
is, you know, they they'reabout people in the planet, and they're
about donating a big percentage of likeyou know, their revenue towards alleviating poverty.
So that's a big thing of theirs. Very good. Yeah, one

(01:01:23):
last question before we go. Iknow you do it's like a peak dance
celibration. Can you say you're maybeyou can say your favorite place to do
one or your top three and tellus about that. It's just I really
liked that. Yeah, So thispeak dance you speak of, we actually

(01:01:43):
have a term for it. It'scalled summit cipher. And what a cipher
is, it's a circle. AndI come from the dance community. So
when we say let's start a cipher, we're referring to a dance circle,
you know, like you see atany any place, right, And it's
a really cool thing how this developeloped and basically a handful of the members
of the Just Chuck who are formerdancers, so we bring that energy to

(01:02:07):
the top of the peaks to celebratereaching the summit, and we basically form
a circle. And some of uscome from different styles of dance, whether
it's break dancing, popping, jazz, any other classic salsa, you name
it. Like, there's all kindsof dancers in our crew, and so
it's like our ritual when we reachthe top. We don't do it all

(01:02:28):
the time because sometimes we're just tooexhausted, but we'll form a circle at
the top of a mountain, orwill form a circle at a certain you
know, special destination or landmark,and we'll play music and you know,
we'll be very conscious of that,like isolate and make sure we're not bothering
people. And we'll just go eachof us one at a time in the
circle and just exchange energies and celebratelife that we made it to the top

(01:02:52):
together in community. And it's justlike our way of like you know how
some people have the ritual of likea summit beer or like they whatever,
the ritual will maybe maybe a specificsnack. Well, we dance, and
it's been a thing that's really madeus stand out in the comedy in terms
of like, yo, who arethese people dancing on the peaks? Aren't
they exhausted? But accelerate? Yeah, we're fueled by the mountain energy even

(01:03:16):
though our legs are busted up,and keep dancing. That's so great.
Keep dancing, I know you will, But real quick, I didn't answer
your question about places we danced to. Panga look Out in the Santa Monica
Mountains is like one of the bestplaces to dance. It's like this former
fire tower for sure. Hands down, that's one of the best places.

(01:03:39):
Look out for the Just Trek Dancecrew. Yes, the lookout. I
would love to join that Just Trekcrew coming to a summit near you.
I love it. That's awesome.Justin And again, if people want to
follow Justin on Instagram, you're justPeriod Trek on Instagram. Yeah, on

(01:03:59):
Instagram, and your podcast name isis it just trek? Yeah, just
type in just Trek podcast. Makesure to include the word podcast. And
you know, we're all available onall the streaming platforms. We're also on
YouTube as well, but that's justmore as like mini clips. We do
have two full video episodes on there, but as you know, producing a
full video podcast as a whole anotherrealm of work, So I try my

(01:04:23):
best. Yeah, you're great man. It's been a pleasure to have you
on the podcast today. Thank you, Brad, Thank you Holly. This
is so special to be in aweekend sharp of podcast. Well, it's
special to meet you and talk withyou. Thank you so much. Thanks
Justin of course, thank you.