Post-Holiday Hike

Old trestle over the creek near the footbridge

Dr. K, Becca and I did a 2 1/2-hour trek on the Bridal Veil Falls Trail this morning and we only encountered two other hikers on our way back.  It was a glorious morning in the high desert near High Rolls, and before we'd gone even half a mile we took off our lightweight jackets and stowed them in my daypack.  We're headed for a high of 66F here in the Sacramento Mountains, and it's really hard to believe we're having this kind of weather at the end of November.  Local meteorologists are saying we're in for a warm December, too.  Wonder what kind of winter we'll have this year.

Far side of the trestle

White Sands NM from the Bridal Veil Falls Trail

Becca leading the way

Heading toward the grotto

Natural grotto with a flagstone floor

Looks a lot like Senna

Still leading the way

Becca loves this trail

Heading toward the chasm

Closer look at that gash in the earth

Getting ready to fly away

A type of grass I'm not familiar with

Dr. K and Becca

The porch roof on the old homestead finally gave way

Exploring where we'd not gone before

Dr. K and Becca waiting for the pokey photographer

Heading up the creek bed

We made a U-turn at the cottonwood

Dog with a lion shadow

The riparian area from the upper bank

Sotols (Dasylirion wheeleri) growing alongside and on the rocks

Pointer

Historical signage alongside the trail

A color version and . . .

. . . a black-and-white version

Corvids

Departing crows

Thanksgiving Hike

Morning in High Rolls

Dr. K, Becca and I took a Thanksgiving Hike this morning on the Grand View Trail.  We ran into four people during our trek, two of them twice coming and going.  One guy told us that he and his woman companion (wife?) were out burning calories prior to the big turkey dinner today.  That rekindled a memory from my youth; when my brother and I were young our father would get peeved with us if we ate breakfast and lunch on Thanksgiving day, the idea being that we had to come into the big meal on an entirely empty stomach.  I didn't buy it then, and I don't subscribe to that theory today.

American Robin

A little closer look

Another view of Haynes Canyon

Becca is always looking for her high country buddies

She wasn't disappointed when Cowboy and Champ came to visit

Time for the communal peeing klatch

Cowboy about to head home

Out at the edge of our property

Tall tree/short cliff

View from the Grand View Trail

White Sands National Monument from altitude

Fall color in Three-leaf Sumac

Back through the cut

Sotol growing on boulders

Shadow on boulder

Low Then High

Heading up the mountain

Becca and I did a quick jaunt west of Tortugas Mountain this morning before returning home to pack and head to the high country with Dr. K.  The weather here in the Sacramento Mountains is beautiful--a little cooler, but the air is refreshingly crisp.  We haven't had a chance to get any hiking in today, but we did walk around our property a bit marveling at the huge number of birds in the surrounding trees.  We saw quite a few American Robins eating juniper berries; hope they don't get drunk.  Wonder if they pee G&Ts afterwards.

Pausing in the shade

Watching someone descend the mountain road

American Robin eating juniper berries

American Robin (Turdus migratorius)

Same Robin

Heading up our driveway

I think it's a Robin from the rear

Haynes Canyon

Small cabin on the mountainside

What does Becca see?

She's spotted something

Don't know what she's staring at

It moved or she's playing mind games

Juniper berries

Mountain home

Not sure why I like this shot, but I do

Heading inside