Saturday, December 31, 2016

The Seven Hills of Bisbee (4.2 mile loop)

I woke up at 5:30am missing Pache.  He slept in my armpit overnight again, but had disappeared as soon as I awoke.  He was my greatest loss this year and I still miss him and think of him every day.

At least today's hike was sobering. A new member to the local hiking meet-up organized this hike.  I just came along with Zeke for the exercise and seeing the hills again. I always enjoy coming to Bisbee.

It was raining on my drive to Bisbee, with rain clouds of various shades shrouding the horizon.  But once in town, the rain had subsided. Chris, a man we met the day before at Chili's showed up, so there were three of us at the 8:35am start. We all wore rain gear just in case.

Thad, the official hike leader, had just gotten off his shift as USBP, but he kept a good pace.  Chris, however, lagged from the start so we slowed down some.  Zeke and I were in the middle of the trio as we started up from OK street, and then took the shrine trail around the hillside, eventually joining up with the loop trail that goes along the ridge line.  This was a new way of doing the loop, and I like it!  It seems to level out the steepness some, although it deprives the dogs of any water in Zacatecas Canyon.  With the rain gathering in rock depressions and the cool temperature, I was not worried about Zeke lacking water.

We only had one passing moment of rain.  The wind gusted, the rain came over us, and just as quickly, it dispersed.  Chris opted to bow out at the 1.6-mile intersection with the canyon trail, giving himself a three-mile intro walk.  "I see you guys at the coffeeshop!" were his last words.  Thad and I continued our hike at a steady pace, stopping only to take photos of the rainy hillsides.  We didn't talk much.

The  biggest obstacle on the hike was not the rain or fog, but the cold wind.  As soon as we got up high enough, at the 2.3-mile ridgeline at 6076', that cold wind blew hard!  No one else was foolish to be on the ridgeline today, but after the second hill the wind was stopped by the peaks, as we were now on the backs side of the wind.  My rain poncho kept me dry, but my boots had gotten damp from the wet grass whisping around my feet.

We finished the walk in 1:53 minutes.  That's a good pace.  There is only a 976' elevation gain, with the high peak at the 2.5-mile walk with 6129'.  The course then resumes its town streets on Tembly, the road that intersects steps #4 and #5 on the Bisbee 1000 course.

There were few people in Brewery Gulch.  The sun was now coming out, making the wet roads glisten.  The rain clouds were slowly changing to blue.  My feet were cold and damp from the grass and when Thad and I shook hands and went our separate ways, I joined Chris at the coffee shop, (Zeke rested in the van) the one place in town that seemed to bring all the visitors!  Everyone looked cold.  The shop was busy, people were coming and goig but the noisiness never subsided.  I had a triple shot cappuccino with hazelnut flavoring just to warm up.  I seldom drink hot coffee after a hike!  It's usually two pints of beer, but today I made a necessary exception.  

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Lower Lutz Canyon ramble

I wanted to do something quick with the dogs and decided a.t 3:45pm (!!!) to take Sadie, Sweetie, Zeke and Minnie up Lower Lutz Canyon and walk the rocky creek bed.  It's an area that few people explore and the dogs would bother no one.

I parked at the official trailhead at the end of the road, then took the pack down to the creek.  Water here would mean more water farther uphill.


Coming down the short road to the creek, I noticed a bright red cross.  What was that?  That was not here before.  It was a cross for a Mexican woman, Araceli Lopez,  who had come across the border illegally and had died here.  A non-profit group out of Douglas, AZ, "Pilgrimage of Remembrance, " erects crosses in locations where border crossers are found deceased within the county.  Upon further examination of the cross site, I noticed an upturned jar with a candle and folded note inside.  That note turned out to be a citation from a forest ranger, citing the anonymous person for "erecting a permanent structure" in the forest without a permit.
https://crossplanting.wordpress.com/2016/09/28/september-27-2016-huachuca-mts/?fbclid=IwAR0-9VYdD5EinA2NIpc7SIqQRhnmN65Z_Lt4f_WNfCF3o3jyotgJpS29Oiw
  

We continued the hike here.  There was water in the creek, so we walked uphill along the creek bed.  This  is a slow process because I have to watch out for Minnie, who struggles with hopping.  It was cool out and the water kept her going.


We didn't go far.  The creek crosses the trail a mile uphill and that is where we turned around, taking the official trail back to the van.  It's faster this way and the views open up.  Along the road to the trailhead, the Forest Service has allowed people to come here and chop down dead trees for firewood.  I saw evidence of recent tree cuttings.

To add some mileage, I walked the Lutz Canyon road a bit to the old homestead and then turned around here, as it was getting dark and Lutz Canyon, with its history of drug smugglers and illegal border crossers, is not a safe place to be after dark.  We never came across another soul and we got two good hours of exercise.  I am happy, the dogs are happy.  Life is good.




Sunday, December 18, 2016

Bisbee Stairclimb (4.6 miles)


I have walked the Bisbee 1000 Stairclimb (named after the approximate number of stairs on the walk) at least six times since September, walking and climbing the same course as the $100 race event in October every year.  It starts at the Copperman Statue by the old Courthouse and starts with a downhill to Old Bisbee's Brewery Gulch before the first set of 78 stairs by the old city park.   I ran the course a few times in the early 1990s, when registration was just $25.  Now it costs $100 to run or walk the course, making it cost prohibitive except for the elite runners who come from all over to do this course. It has become a top race for the best runners, of which I'm no longer a part.

I know the route well and have featured it several times as a meet-up.  It's a challenging course up and down stairs, along narrow streets and past remodeled mining shacks. Walking through Old Bisbee is like a throwback to Italy. People always say they are interested in doing the course, sign up for it,and then cancel out at the last minute.  This happened again with Bill today, after he had wanted to do it on Sunday just a week ago!  He was the reason I had scheduled it for 1pm today, so that we would start at the warmest time of the day and still have daylight at the finish.  It was 56F at the start and sunny.

Luckily two good walkers did sign up, KimG and SteveT.  Both are retired and I wasn't sure how fast this group would be, knowing that Steve had trouble making it up Carr peak on Thursday. Both are in better shape than they realize. Steve brought his dog Trace along, I brought Zeke, and the dogs were well behaved. Trace was on his leash the entire time.  We did better than expected, finishing the course in just under 2:20 hours.  We walked at a steady pace.  The only time we had to stop for any time was after climbing the fifth set of stairs.  Even I have trouble with that set.

I chatted with Kim a lot on today's walk.  Steve was right behind us, his usually grumbly self while climbing up the stairs.  I've learned to understand that he is this way on purpose, and not really grumbling.  He's more mocking himself. He looked tired, but kept a steady pace.  He didn't talk much today, but perhaps because I was with Kim for most of the walk.  She is a talker.

The first set of stairs is at the .6 mile, climbing up and around the city park, then back up Brewery Gulch to set #2 near the old market store.  The first mile mark is as one ascends back up Opera Drive.  We met Justin here, a member of the Sierra Vista Hikers meetup, who lives right off the course with his two cats.  We chatted a bit (to give us a break from the stairs) before continuing on.  A retainer wall near his home is precariously close to collapsing.  Cracked walls are a commonality around Bisbee.  One heavy rainfall will collapse this wall off Opera Drive.


As expected, stairs #3 was the hardest, with 181 stairs.  It's the longest of any of the set, but because #4 and #5 are right next to each other and divided only by Tembly Avenue, I consider this duo the hardest with 229 steep stairs combined. Once we made it to the top of the 5th set of stairs we had an easy rest of the way.  The views out toward the Lavender Mine pit from High Road are scenic.  One sees the spread of the old town along the crumbly hillsides. For newcomers to Bisbee, this course shows most of real Bisbee, from small hillside shacks to exquisite mansions and abandoned VW buses in side streets.  The VW buses never seem to leave their spot.

The second mile contains three sets of stairs in quick succession, totaling 410 steps.   This is the highest amount of stairs in the 4.6-miles. The rest of the stairs are spread out over the course.  If anyone can finish set #5, they can finish the race.   After the fifth set, it's downhill back to the Copperman statue before it ascends gently up Tombstone Canyon past the Circle K convenience store to set #6 up Laundry Hill.  Set #7 comes at the 4th mile, and sets #8 and #9 are close together but aren't long.  I've gotten used to this layout and it doesn't exhaust me anymore to do this course, but #4 and #5 together do still make me pause for a bit.  Zeke had no trouble, though.

Many of the mean dogs I've learned to recognize were not out today.  The white heeler on Adams street was on his balcony, the mean chihuahuas in Moon canyon were not to be seen.  Dogs barked from a distance but none of them were a direct nuisance to us.  I saw more cats this time than dogs. It was a quiet walk as far as meeting locals this time.  I didn't notice anything new on today's walk, although I always enjoy seeing the herd of ironwrought javelina dressed up for the upcoming holidays; today they wore red and green Christmas caps.  Trees for the most part were naked now.

Sunday afternoon is when stores close and tourists leave to return to Phoenix or Tucson.  Even the Screaming Banshee pizza place by the Copperman Statue was quiet until Kim and I came in at 3:20pm with a nice two-seater table near the window, so that I could watch Zeke stare back at me from the Ford Escape.  Steve had a meeting with a hunting friend and didn't join us, but I will be seeing him again for Tuesday's morning walk up Carr Canyon Road.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Winterstorm Decima


Winterstorm Decima began in the Pacific Northwest Thursday and blew her strength across the country, leaving the Midwest and the Northeast in several feet of snow in some areas.  Decima came down as far south as our region, but all it left us with were high winds and a temperature drop of 20 degrees.  I don't mind daytime temperatures of 50F instead of 70F like we did have earlier this month.  We desperately need cool precipitation!

The wind began early in the morning on Saturday.  The trees in the front yard shook around violently,waking me up.  The California palm tree lost a good 20 fronds again, leaving the top nicely trimmed with no dead fronds remaining.  In the 12 years we have lived in this house, I've never paid anyone to trim the palm tree.  It loses its dead fronds naturally after heavy winter winds.  The dead fronds add protecting for birds nesting in the canopy.

There was no snow in the peaks, though, and thus no urge for me to take the dogs up Ash Canyon for a romp in the snow.  What I did do, however, was take the dogs for a mile walk in Oak Estates.  We did a .93-mile course partly on the trail, partly on the road. Even Sammy came along!  He hadn't walked with the pack in almost a month, and his pace looked good.  I stayed with him while the other three frolicked around in the cool sunshine. I know the distance wasn't much for the other dogs, but they made up for it by running around and chasing wind. Whatever storm damage the county received wasn't noticeable here.  Decima blasted through quickly and by the afternoon things were back to normal again.  The palm tree is well-trimmed now, the two trees in the front yard have lost most of their leaves, and the bird seed in the feeders is gone.  Welcome, winter!

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Carr Peak with Steve, Trace, Zeke and Sadie

Carr Peak was on my itinerary if I didn't get called in to work.  I promised Steve I'd join him on the hike up the mountain if I wasn't working.  He had been wanting to hike up the peak for months.

At 8:30pm he called me to ask me if I was working today.  I said no, and that I would be ready to meet him at 9:30am at the Carr Canyon Road lower parking area.  He was prompt, the dogs were ready to go, and up the mountain road we drove in my Ford Escape, dodging new and expanded ruts from the summer's heavy rains.  Trace sat up front with Steve while Zeke and Sadie took up the backseat.  I left Minnie at home since she was a bit too playful with Trace on our last hike.  Today was forecasted to be in the upper 70s with wind gusts up to 24mph.  Winterstorm Decima is due this weekend, bringing in a cold front and daytime temperatures dropping 20 degrees.  If I didn't hike up Carr today, I may not have a chance later this month with the road closed by the Forest Service whenever snow or ice make the drive more dangerous.

We parked at the Sawmill trail head.  Steve wasn't expecting the steep start, but I told him I prefer this access trail to the peak over the Ramsey Vista trail head because the Sawmill trail has the Sawmill springs a half-mile up the trail, a nice refreshment for the dogs at the start and finish of the hike.  Little Trace drank his share of the cool water and even went into the tub to get himself completely wet.  I really took a liking to this dog on today's hike, and he apparently liked me, too.

Steve has been back in Arizona only two weeks and warned me that he would be slow.  I knew that.  He's also 69 years old, something I also take into consideration.  His five months in the Midwest this past summer and fall have gotten him out of shape but he was determined to bag Carr Peak and I was willing to guide him the entire time.  This was a different way of looking at Carr Peak, allowing me more time to enjoy the views.  I should have brought a decent camera along.

We did stop a lot, though.  Whenever Steve needed to rest, I stopped, too.   We sat on rocks and drank water.  Steve stopped twice to eat. The dogs were probably wondering why I was stopping so much.  They are used to me charging up the hill for the most part.  By the first mile Steve sat down and seemed upset with himself:  the hike up the mountain was harder than he expected.  Was he going to make it to the peak?  I stayed with him, never losing him out of my sight.  I watched for delirium, elevation sickness (shortness of breath, headache), heavy breathing.  I didn't see any of those.  So we took it very slowly.  The only thing that would force us to turn around was losing daylight, or a sudden freak storm.  Skies were mostly clear with a breeze.  All I wore was a red dry-weave shirt with an oversized white nylon men's shirt as a jacket, and black cotton pants that made my legs bulge out. 

I kept losing my GPS tracking and at the two-mile mark accidentally shut it off and had to restart a route. The aspen grove was naked, but here is where the snow packed into ice along the north slope of the trail, making walking treacherous both coming and going.  There was no water in the intermittent waterfall, but the dogs had snow to bite and Steve and I had plenty of water between us.

This hike quickly became both therapy and encouragement for Steve, who would repeatedly talk about his late wife Gail and the fun things she'd do, or the hikes and van camps they'd both do before she developed inflammatory breast cancer that killed her at age 64 when he was 63 years old.  He had lost his job the year before, so this was an especially bad time for him from which he has not fully recovered.  (Does one ever fully recover from such a loss, or does one instead just learn to cope?) He's now 69 years old and seeing his own body slow down and age.  Like me, he's scared of what is to come.  I was there to listen and to prompt him up the trail as long as he was willing and showing no health issues.

The wind picked up in the last half mile, as the trail crests the ridge and begins the final .3 -mile ascent to the peak.  We had to hold our hats in our hands, as the wind blew across the grassy slope.  It didn't seem to bother the dogs.  Trace never lost his urge to hunt for birds, for which he was trained, and Sadie and Zeke looked on in amazement but then opted to stay close to me on the trail. Trace is still a puppy; my dogs are adults.

As little as Trace is, he's a fast dog.  I learned that one whistle blow makes him stop and two short whistle blows tells him to return to his owner.  He bolted out of a treeline back to me to show off his training.  He flushed out a covey of quail that flew off in a huff. I had never hiked with a hunting dog before.  For hikers unfamiliar with hunting dogs, they seldom stick to the trail and instead pick up scents and go after those scents.  Some may think the dog is not trained to obey trail etiquette.  Instead, the dog is doing what it was trained to do.

It took us four hours to reach the peak.  This is perhaps my slowest time ever!  But time here was not the goal.  The goal was simply to get to the peak and down before sunset.  A noticeable smile of achievement crossed Steve's face at the peak.  The first thing Trace did was pee on the summit. We hunkered down near the manzanitas to get out of the wind, eat our snacks and water the dogs.  We resumed our descent at 1:50pm.  I brought two cans of dog food for Zeke and Sadie, and Trace was determined to have some, too. He attacked the can with a vengeance, as if starved.  Next time I hike with Trace, I'm bringing an extra can for him.

We had no one else on the trail.  I saw a few hawks fly overhead and heard a few chirps in the trees.  Flowers are gone and so are the leaves.

The descent was a tad faster, but now we had to watch our footing.  My old Raichles were pinching my toes.  I fell once from a rock crevice and bruised my side.  Hiking at a slower pace seemed to have tired me out more than hiking at a normal pace!  We got back to the truck at 4:10pm as the waning sun was disappearing behind us, cooling the shade.  This was a six-hour hike but I'm glad I got it done for both Steve and me.





  

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Full Moon hike from Brown Canyon Ranch


We have had such mild weather all week while the Heartland and especially Chicago are now in a deep freeze.  Money, road fatigue and a van that needs some mechanical attention are reasons I'm staying local over the holidays.  I'm also considering looking at new vans; I'm tired of the Dodge Caravan.

Today was our last supermoon for the year, rising at 5:33pm with a sunset at 5:20pm.  I opted to do a short hike due to the early start and many working long hours before Christmas.  We met at the Ramsey Canyon Road trail head parking for the Brown Canyon loop, walking north on the dirt road leading to the ranch house, then taking an uphill trail to a rocky overlook. There were six of us :  Holly and her husband Craig, Bruce, Wayne, latercomer Cole and me with Zeke and Minnie.   I only knew Holly and Cole. It was a mild night with little wind and only high cerrus clouds.  We could hear coyotes barking near the homes to our east.  My dogs were well-behaved and stayed close by.  The sunset provided pretty hues of reds, pinks and purples.

The loop was a mere 2.34 miles, but probably longer.  My app kept stopping and that prevents me from getting an accurate reading of time and distance.  The full moon quickly was hidden by cloud cover and we thus had a darker night than last month.

On the way down the hill, Wayne torqued his knee and told us he'd return the way we came.  We were about .2 or .3 miles from the dirt road, but that short section consists of deep crevices and loose rocks up a steep grade; terrain not suitable for weak ankles. We told him we would meet up with him later. The rest of us opted to finish the short loop, then returned with our cars to look for him.  Luckily Wayne made it to the main road and we didn't need to fourwheel up any rocky slopes.  Wayne was visibly happy to see us and he took a ride back with Bruce back to his own truck.  A tragedy was avoided!  I'm glad in this case that Wayne injured his knee close to a passable road and not high somewhere off a single track in waning daylight.

The dirt road back to the parking area was busy with mountain bikers getting ready for their own moonlight ride, but I was glad to be home early.

Saturday, December 3, 2016

Along the San Pedro Riparian Trail (Hereford Bridge northbound)


That cold front that followed me from California seems to have lingered over Arizona. Yesterday's cold rain turned to snow overnight in the mountains.  The dead grass in the back yard was damp until later in the afternoon. The peaks weren't visible until late in the morning when the low clouds burned off and the snow showed itself.  We finally have some precipitation!  Maybe that means we can hike up Miller Peak next Saturday.

I wanted to hike again today, and since I didn't walk the dogs yesterday due to the cold rain, opted instead to double up the mileage today.  The hiking club had a 11-mile loop hike planned around Parker Lake, but that area still looked shrouded in fog and I didn't want to drive far to hike far. I stayed local instead.

By 12:45pm I was at the Hereford bridge with Sadie, Minnie, Zeke and Sweety and walked north on the trail.  No one was around, the air was cool, the sky overcast and the dogs enjoyed the ramble.  I told Kevin I'd do anywhere from 6-8 miles, just up and back along the trail.

The cottonwoods and sycamores along the river still have a lot of their yellow leaves!  We hadn't had high winds this week to help get rid of the foliage.  Even the two trees in our front yard are still fully leafed.  The dogs stayed close by, but Sweety still enjoyed being on her own, always ahead of everyone else and not looking back much.  I could see the snow on the Huachuca peaks to my west.  The sky was overcast and the air cool, ideal for this time of year.  I didn't carry any water with me since I had a stop along the river for the dog planned and I don't drink much water myself.

At 3.25 miles the trail crossed a wide dry creek bed.  I got on the west-east flowing creek bed and took that to the river, where the dogs enjoyed a few minutes of cooling off before I resumed the walk.  That was a .4-mile detour. I missed the turnoff back to the trail and walked too far on the creek bed before I realized my mistake, but then I saw a well-groomed trail going southwest.  Was this an illegal trail?  Curious, I took it and yes, it was a well-used illegal trail that border crossers must be using to get to the far east side of Sierra Vista and the homes there.  I could see a long line of houses along the horizon, but I didn't want to veer too far off my route.  This illegal trail followed a boundary barbed wire fence in a southwesterly direction, and pink tape was hung on a few shrubs to mark the way at night.

I cut across the shrubbery and walked cross-country through prickly thorny brush for a mile before getting back on the trail.  By now the sun was low enough to cast golden hues over the Mule mountains to the east.  With the many shades of brown and tans along the trail, the glistening sun was a nice nuance to a late fall hike.

At 3pm with a mile left to go on my hike, my phone rang.  I was on a single track with tall dead grass flanking the trail. The number was a Texas number.  Who would be calling me from Texas?  It turned out to be my dear friend Steve T, who had left in early June (right around the same time I left for my Washington state road trip) for his five-month trip to Illinois and back via Colorado.  He came back to town earlier this week and wanted to know where he could get a dog crate.  I just happen to have a few left over from my fostering years and was glad to get him one.  Our conversation was dropped but I had told him early in our talk that I'd give him a call once I was back home; I could drop by later today with the new crate, the same crate that had been by the front door.  I finally had good a use for it!  I had never unboxed it.

Dressed in the same frumpy clothes I wore for my hike, including a vest heavily accessorized with dog fur, Steve and I met at the Carl's Jr in town where I treated him to dinner and got to meet his new hiking partner, a small two-year-old Golden Retriever named Trace.  He bought the dog on impulse while in Illinois in November.  Steve had been talking about getting another dog ever since I've met him a few years ago, and he's always liked Goldens.  He likes to hunt and hike, and what better breed than a Golden for that?

The town hosted a Christmas Parade at 5:30pm, which I had forgotten about.  The restaurant and parking lot were crowded and we stayed a bit to watch the parade, but by 6pm there still wasn't much going on and I was getting too cold in that thin fleece vest.  I'm not a big fan of parades anyway, but I do watch a few of them for the social gathering. We parted ways after another hug.

Friday, November 25, 2016

Thanksgiving in California: Pena Adobe Regional Park, Vacaville

I was up early again to use the free wifi in front of the Starbucks on base.  It was a cool day again with the morning fog lingering.  I wasn't too sure what to do today, other than meeting Eric and Margaret for dinner in the evening.  My radiator was acting up again and I knew I couldn't drive far.  I didn't want to be stuck somewhere with no one nearby to help me.  I decided then to discover more of the Vacaville Creek Fitness trail that meanders for 1.5 miles through Old Town.  Minnie certainly enjoyed splashing in the creek, but I was aware that she was off-leash within town limits so I had to be careful.  We managed 2.29 miles out and back near and close to the creek.



 The trail isn't long enough to get a good enough workout, unless the trail is done several times.  I really didn't want to do that with the dogs off-leash.  I ate a mediocre lunch at the German Grain Bakery and Cafe in town, where I was overcharged for a hazelnut roll and coffee.  There really wasn't anything "German" about the cafe, either, so I didn't stick around. I decided to check out the Pena Adobe/Lagoon Valley regional park again, this time exploring a different angle of it. There were some trails to the west of the radio tower that I did not explore yesterday.

There is a small historic cabin, Pena Adobe, right inside the park and close to the interstate.  It's protected by mature trees. There really wasn't much there for me to do with the dogs on leashes, though, so I went with them back to the main road to another trail head that I discovered yesterday, close to the dog park and off the main road through the park, inside the adjacent Lagoon Valley Regional park.  I started at an elevation of 121' at the cabin to 277' on the tallest hill. This trail was on the closest hill to the interstate.  No one else was here; people stayed on the pavement below.  Once I was away from the crowds, I let the dogs off-leash again.  The cold morning fog made the trails slippery and muddy.




The views from the lake from this perspective were of a remote, quiet lagoon.  One would have to get closer to the water to see that it isn't so; there are plenty of people along the shore just relaxing.  This little park is such a godsend to the Vacaville-Fairfield area.  If I lived here, I'd be coming by several times a week.  The live oaks, green grass and gentle hills make this an attractive park.  But one must be careful of one's dogs.



From the pavement we climbed up one hill with views of the lake and a picnic area on the hilltop.  From there we took a single track that went along a gentle ridge going mostly north, with views of the interstate traffic below.  Across the interstate were more naked hills, so one can see how this land was before it was "developed."  I went from a muddy, steep hill trail back down to pavement, around a small water reservoir , looping around that, then coming back toward the main road where I walked through a disc park before stopping at the dog park a bit before leaving. This 3.23 mile loop took me an hour.  It was a nice way to give the dogs some exercise before being stuck in the van during the dinner hours.
http://www.mapmyhike.com/workout/1884026333
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We had a good time so far, considering there had been rain forecasted for today.  Instead, we had a thick overcast that kept us cool (and damp).  With now close to 5.5 miles under our feet, it was time to relax and get some rest in a nearby hotel where we could stay warm overnight.  Again this was a wise decision because it did finally rain at night. 

My hotel of choice was the Motel6 in Vacaville, right off the interstate again.  Dogs are allowed at Motel6s (many limit it to just one), but this one allowed two dogs.  It was just past 4pm when we checked in.  I showered, watched cable news.  Florence Henderson, 82, TV mom from the Brady Bunch, a corny 1970s show that I watched in my preteen years, died of heart failure.  I was now spending time until I heard from Eric.  I let him decide where we would meet up again for dinner.

Eric and Margaret decided on a family diner in Vacaville, the Bear Diner.  The place was huge!  It was a good choice as I took some food with me later back to the hotel.  It's so nice to see Eric happy with a good woman.  When we hugged our good-byes, I knew that this time it would be a while before I saw him again. I had a long drive back to Arizona again and needed to be fresh. The hotel was surprisingly quiet for being a Motel6 and right off the interstate.   



Thursday, November 24, 2016

Thanksgiving in California, Part II


The sun seems to take forever to rise in the Bay Area, thanks to the morning fog.  I wanted to get some exercise in before meeting Eric's girlfriend's friends later in the day.  I arrived at the Lagoon Valley Regional Park in Vacaville (right off I-80) and started my hike at 9:42am.  The parking lot was surprisingly busy with lots of other hikers, but this being California where people are more exercise-conscious, this should not have been a surprise.  It still felt very fog-fresh and cool.




Both dogs were on their leash and did very well.  Not knowing the trails of this park, I opted to taste it all.  I started the Eagle loop trail around the lagoon.  Morning dew glistened in the grass.  Parts of the wide trail was muddied by recent rains, and goose poop littered the path.  Joggers, other dog walkers and even an equestrian greeted me.

I hiked 1.6 miles around the lagoon and pavement.  There were many picnickers here. Then I opted to hike up the gravel service road to the highest of three radio towers in the park.  This road seems to be the park's busiest trail.  Here more joggers, dog walkers and mountain bikers joined me.  The highest radio tower is only at 923' high, but for being in the Bay Area, a nice place to see across the nearby hills, including Mount Diablo.




Cyclists rest on top and I left them alone.  I took the dogs on a more secluded single track near the top, where I took them off leash for the duration of this scenic trail as it switchbacked down the northern slopes of the hill, pass elegant California Live Oak and California buckeyes.  Only one hiker passed me here.  A small creek with water welcomed the dogs with cool refreshment, which both dogs enjoyed.  I never had to open my own water bottles for them.

We were now back near pavement and parking lot and more hikers, so the dogs went back onleash to finish the 6.77-mile loop in 2:07 hours.  I was very impressed with the trails of this regional park that is right off the interstate and easy to get to.  I would do the service road-single track loop again!  There are many more remote trails in this park.  It was almost noon when I got back to the van.  The dogs were happy to relax in the van.

I now had to drive toward Sacramento, since that is where the gathering was.  Traffic was stop-and-go in parts, especially around Dixon on the west side.  Weather was warm and sunny; a lovely Thanksgiving day.

But I had more time to spare.  I was told the dinner started at 4pm and here it was 1:30 pm and I had time to walk around the State Capitol (I last was here in 2000 when I was stationed in Monterey with the US Army), and then walked around Old Sacramento.  Both times I kept the dogs in the van, parked in the shade with the windows down.  They napped while I walked around, adored the many trees around the capital.  I was able to photograph the beautiful landscape around the capitol, admiring trees I had never seen before but which grow well in the state.  Australian and Asian natives seem to thrive here.  The only flaw about the Capitol Grounds is the high number of transients.  Some blend in with the landscape in their olive green clothes, others sit as still as statues.

Old Sacramento is a nice place to visit once, but it's mostly a tourist trap near the Sacramento River.  I had been here before as well and it hasn't changed much.  Some of the restaurants charge valet parking, other places enforce a strict dress code.  The Riverside Tavern charges $6 for their cheapest draft beer.  So no, it's not a place I'd feel comfortable with.  At least it's a nice walking area being near the river, and had I had more time, I could have walked farther.

I had now walked over nine miles before my meal, which turned out to be a lovely gathering of six people and five dogs in a small California home in Elk Grove, a suburb of Sacramento.  Minnie and Zeke got along with the host dogs, a Labradoodle named Georgia, a Pit Bull and a more reclusive Husky-pit bull-heeler who was mostly locked up in a room due to her anti-social behavior.  Everyone at the dinner table was a bona fide animal lover, which made all the dogs more tolerable and not unusual for me.    Margaret really outdid herself preparing the whole meal.  All I added was the Arizona beer.  I will forget the names of these lovely women, but I won't forget this memorial feast of thanks.