Last night I was asked for a half-day commitment at the middle school. I accepted, then immediately asked Bill if he would like to walk the Brown Canyon loop at sunrise this morning. He agreed, and together we tackled this pretty loop. We hadn't hiked together since the day before school started in early August.
The morning colors this morning were beautiful. Clouds hung over the Mule mountains as pink and purple spread across the horizon. Sun rise was at 5:49am and subdued due to clouds, but still very nice. Unlike most mornings, today it was quiet this first hour. I didn't hear any birds as usual. The only wildlife at the start was a lone deer in the field across the road from the trailhead. Bill and I were the second and third car in the lot when we started
Both Bill and Sadie were behind me. Bill was noticeably slower today and seemed lethargic. He said he is always tired after driving up to Phoenix and back over the weekend on his Kawasaki motorcycle. The trail was muddy in parts, but the trough is still rather dry. A couple with their four dogs (two were carry-ons) were our only company, and they were going the other direction. We met two more people with another dog just before reaching Ramsey Canyon Road for the final half-mile.
No new flowers were discovered this morning. The ones from three weeks ago are slowly fading. White clover seems to be thriving right now, as well as the several species of sunflower.
Weather was calm and warm. The blimp was still tethered at the start, but slowly began rising during our hike. It didn't feel humid until 7:30am, when we got done with the hike.
I talked briefly with Aion's owner. I'll be seeing them both again on Sunday, the last dock diving class for the season.
The parking lot was near full when we left. I'm glad we had an early start!
No comments:
Post a Comment