A beautiful place worth repeating – and this time watching a helicopter rescue

Run #29 brought me back to Angel Island once again. After last week’s run there, it was hard not to return — the place is just too beautiful. This time I got to share it with Paula, which made the day feel different from the start. Angel Island really is a special Bay Area escape: right in the middle of the bay, close to San Francisco, but still feeling far away from the normal routine.​

Two laps around the island

This time Paula rented a mountain bike on the island while I ran, and together we did two laps around Angel Island. The park allows visitors to rent bikes on site when those services are operating, and the mostly paved 5-mile Perimeter Road still comes with a surprising amount of climbing and a few steep stretches. It was a solid workout for both of us: I got my run, Paula got her ride, and we still managed to enjoy most of the loop side by side.

A little reading, a little listening

On the BART ride into San Francisco, I started a new book: Skunk Works by Ben Rich, this time in a paper copy instead of audio, partly so I can bring it to the office later if anyone wants to borrow it.

During the run, I listened to a bit more of Ready Player Two, but not the whole time — Angel Island still feels like a place that deserves some stretches without headphones.

A small concern at the end

For most of the run my body felt fine, but after about three quarters of the distance I started to feel pain behind my right knee again. I had noticed it after last week’s run; this time it showed up before I finished, which made it harder to ignore. This time I was wearing my Topo Phantom 4 again, which is Topo Athletics’ high-cushion neutral trainer.

After the run it was a little painful to walk, and the next morning it was still bothering me when I straightened or bent the leg after keeping it in one position. I started using some Arnica Pain Relieving Gel with capsaicin, and now I am just hoping it calms down over the next few days.

Google, seriously?

After the run I went to check the route on my Pixel Watch 4 data and got an unwelcome surprise. Google is in the middle of moving things from Google Fit to the new Google Health app, and when I opened Google Fit after the run it asked if I wanted to start using Google Health right away. I said yes without looking at the activity first, and now, for some reason I still do not understand, I cannot see the map of this run in either app. Terrible user experience, to say the least — next time I might have to bring my Garmin again, just in case.

Watching a rescue from the cafe

After the run, while we were resting and eating at Angel Island Cafe, we ended up seeing something I had never witnessed before. First, a paramedics truck arrived on the island and drove fast uphill with sirens on. About ten minutes later, a CHP helicopter approached the island, circled, landed briefly near the top among the trees, then took off again.

Soon after, it came back, hovered above the trees in a slightly different spot, and lowered one rescuer on a hoist before flying away again. A little later the same helicopter returned, hovered again, and this time lifted two people up on the hoist — probably one of them the injured hiker. In the meantime, a second helicopter, a red one with a white hospital cross, arrived quickly and landed near the picnic area by the bay. The rescue helicopter then landed closer to the water, the patient was transferred to the medical helicopter, and that one flew away almost immediately. The rescue helicopter stayed a bit longer, and we even got close enough to watch it take off from the island afterward. I really hope the patient ended up well. For us, though, it was an unbelievable scene to watch unfold in real time — I had never seen anything like it before.

Google Gemini summarized the incident like this (for more see San Francisco Chronicle):
“Incident Details The Location: The accident happened on the Sunset Trail, a narrow dirt path that climbs to an elevation of roughly 800 feet on Angel Island.
The Fall: A woman in her 20s tripped and tumbled 20 to 30 feet down a steep, difficult-to-access hillside.
The Rescue: The Tiburon Fire Protection District responded to the distress call around 1:45 p.m. A companion who was hiking with her scrambled down the slope and held onto her tightly to prevent her from sliding further down the mountain.
Medical Status: Responders reached her in about 10 minutes. Due to the steep terrain, a helicopter utilized a long line to hoist her from the hill. She was noted to be in an altered state from possible head trauma and was transferred to a medical helicopter to be flown to a local hospital.”

An important detail is that this happened on Sunset Trail, the same trail where I tripped and fell last week, hurting my hands. I guess I was lucky my fall ended where it did and did not turn into something much worse. OMG. 😅