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<\/a>Patrick “Trail Boss” Michael<\/p><\/div>\n
Last weekend part of our neighborhood gathered on Sunday morning at Peters Canyon<\/strong> for the annual \u2018Patrick Hike\u2019<\/strong>, which started in the summer of 2022 by neighbor Bob Pacelli.\u00a0 It’s a three-mile hike to honor our neighbor and good friend, Patrick Michael, who passed away way too soon in April of 2021 at the age of 62.<\/p>\n If you ask most of the guys in our neighborhood about Patrick, they would say, \u201cHe was my best friend\u201d<\/strong>.\u00a0 And we all felt that way.\u00a0 What a wonderful tribute to an amazing man.<\/p>\n Patrick was born and raised only a few miles from the \u2018hood in Villa Park<\/strong>.\u00a0 He went to Villa Park High School and completed his education at Cal Poly Pomona<\/strong> with a degree in Manufacturing & Industrial Engineering<\/strong>. \u00a0So, he was a very detail-oriented and skilled person, who could fix just about anything and he was always asking a lot of questions (I guess that\u2019s how smart people get and stay smart \u2013 I wouldn\u2019t know).\u00a0 But more than that, he was the best friend that anyone could have, and we all felt that he would do anything for us and we would do anything for him \u2013 except he could do a lot of things, while the rest of us were fairly inept in the things we could do.\u00a0 There is hardly a friend’s house in our \u2018hood that doesn\u2019t have something in it that Pat built, fixed, or redesigned.\u00a0 He just really cared about people and let them know it.\u00a0 What an amazing trait!<\/p>\n Hikers at Peters Canyon<\/p><\/div>\n Like everyone who knew Patrick, he was a special friend to me.\u00a0 I believe that my close relationship with him started at a neighborhood Christmas party in 2007.\u00a0 At that party, Patrick talked about how he and a friend had just summited Mt. Whitney<\/strong>, the highest mountain in the continental United States at 14,508 feet<\/strong>.\u00a0 A number of fellow neighbors and I expressed an interest in doing that and asked if he would do it again with us.\u00a0 He agreed but reminded us that the hike is up and back from Whitney Portal to the summit in one day, which is about 22 miles, with an elevation gain of over 6,000 feet. Being naive we said, “No problem”, and said we wanted to do it.\u00a0 So, Patrick took on the name, \u2018Trail Boss\u2019<\/strong>, and laid out a training schedule for us so that we were ready to summit Mt. Whitney that next summer \u2013 and we did.<\/p>\n During our training for Whitney, we hiked several of the local mountains, including Mt. San Antonio (Baldy)<\/strong> several times and Mt. San Jacinto<\/strong>, the mountain that overlooks Palm Springs; both mountains are over 10,000 feet<\/strong> in altitude.\u00a0 Patrick and I also hiked to the top of Half Dome<\/strong> from Yosemite Valley<\/strong>, and although it\u2019s only just under 9,000 feet in altitude, it was probably one of the most beautiful hikes we\u2019d ever been on.<\/p>\n Just last June we passed the 10th<\/sup> anniversary<\/strong> of our most epic hike, in Nepal<\/strong>, a gift from my wife for my 70th<\/sup> birthday.\u00a0 We spent 10 days trekking in the Himalayas<\/strong>, climbing mountain tops, going through small villages, and spending our nights in \u2018teahouses\u2019<\/strong>, which are 8-10 room hostels along the trail, which also provided meals.\u00a0 The next year we did a four-day hike on the Inca Trail<\/strong> to Machu Picchu<\/strong> – another epic hike!\u00a0 If you’ve been a long time subscriber to the blog, you’ve probably heard more than you needed to about those hikes.<\/p>\n The passing of Patrick and the passing of time, have unfortunately limited my hiking to a few miles around the neighborhood, but together Patrick and I created some amazing memories that I will cherish forever.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow Last weekend part of our neighborhood gathered on Sunday morning at Peters Canyon for the annual \u2018Patrick Hike\u2019, which started in the summer of 2022 by neighbor Bob Pacelli.\u00a0 It’s a three-mile hike to honor our neighbor … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Pat-hime-300x149.jpg\")
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<\/a>Back to the ‘Hood: A delicious post-hike brunch was prepared by the Michael’s next-door neighbors and good friends, Marc & Lisa Webb<\/strong>.\u00a0 The day before the hike I was walking the neighborhood and ran into Marc outside of his house and I stopped to chat a bit.\u00a0 During the conversation, he asked me when our next gig was for the Monday Knights<\/strong>.\u00a0 I told him that I had just retired from the band, and he then insisted that I bring my guitar to the brunch and get the neighborhood to sing some songs.\u00a0 I initially refused, but Marc wouldn’t take ‘No’ for an answer, and the calluses hadn’t worn off my fingers yet, so I agreed.\u00a0 The neighbors seemed to enjoy singing along to some old favorites.<\/p>\n