Walking the Dog Four Miles (Twice)

Yesterday I started out for a walk with our dog, Mellow, and decided to keep going. Recently I've only taken individual walks in the one to two mile range, but I decided to be more adventurous. If you know Carlsbad - San Marcos - Vista, I walked down Alga to Melrose and down past Poinsettia to whatever the next street is and back with side trips in my neighborhood. My dog was grateful and my body knew I had gotten some exercise after four miles.

This morning I decided to be a bit more adventurous and walked the same route almost to Palomar Airport Road where I cut through the business park and went back via El Fuerte to Unicornio and then Xana. On the way down El Fuerte I discovered a walking trail that I didn't know existed. The trail is asphalt and it mostly parallels the road but dips into a canyon and that allowed me freedom to let my dog roam a little. I wasn't sure if this was an old dead end that would have me backtracking and I knew I was already past the three mile mark. Would this be an even longer walk than I anticipated? Mellow and I met another guy and his dog along the way and eventually the trail led back up to the road, but not before we noticed the 15 degree (at least) temperature difference at the canyon bottom. This round trip was 4.25 miles. I walked more through the rest of the day, but that's another post.