We knew eventually this would happen. Because my sister works for a company that has varying shifts, despite having every Sunday off for years, this Sunday she was scheduled to work. During the holidays it happens too because she gets switched to graveyard and it messes everything up. It won’t stop our hiking; it will just make us be more creative.

This week we hiked on Thursday, Halloween. I was half in costume with red hair and scary makeup and half in my workout clothes. It was a strange mix. Because we couldn’t start until I got off work, we needed somewhere urban and with lights. My sister found the Alameda Ridge stairs and it seemed perfect. Nestled between the houses along the ridge are numerous, almost hidden staircases. The loop we walked was 4.5 miles. In retrospect, it was not very challenging. What we really want to do is get our hands on a map of all the staircases and make our own route.

We enjoyed the walk. It was a beautiful night and we got to see all of the Halloween decorations and cute kiddos in costume. The mapped route started on 50th Ave at Sandy Blvd, right by the post office. We headed up our first set of stairs up to Wisteria and the adventure began. We wound around the beautiful neighborhoods taking in the sites and the crisp October air. We got lost a couple times, not really lost, just off trail, but since we were in the city we weren’t really worried like in the woods. It’s easy to find your way back to a parked car on 50th Ave regardless of where you end up.

The stairways are really cool. They’re actually really hard to spot. The directions had house addresses so you could find them. We started our hike at dusk so the walk was pretty dark. There are a lot of people in the Alameda area who go all out on Halloween. We kept a count of the people who do not understand how to use fake spiderwebs. It’s a pet peeve of ours. The final tally was something like 20 to 1. In other words we saw one house where the spiderwebs looked cool, like real spiderwebs.  We’re Halloween snobs.

We did not get Subway. It was Halloween. I had my first Burgerville burger in four months. The key to losing weight and keeping it off is not denying yourself those little pleasures. It was delicious. We went home and watched two episodes of American Horror Story. It was a wonderful walk and a wonderful Halloween.

I will probably walk by myself on Sunday while my sister works. It won’t be the same without her.

For information about the Alameda Ridge Walk click here.