Brown Canyon Falls

I didn't work today but had so many other things to do around the house.  Thursdays is trash pick-up day and I tend to use the early mornings to pull as many weeds as possible to fill in the trash bin.  The soil is still damp from the rains and the weeds are easy to pull out.

At 10:15am I was ready to meet the Carr Canyon Road walkers.  They started at 9am so I figured I would meet them on the way down.  They start at the bridge and walk to the middle falls for a 4-mile walk.  I took Minnie and Zeke and had them on new leashes, but the warmth got Minnie fast.  She quickly panted and I could tell this was a struggle for her, even as she had mostly shade.

I made the Clark Springs trailhead my turn-around point, resting there with the dogs on a large boulder.  That would make for a two-mile walk. Ten minutes later the walkers came down the road, and now Steve dog's Trace had a happy reunion with his playmates.  Rick, Lynn and her hubby Frank, Galen and wife Sami, a new Canadian couple and Steve were in this group. I walked back down with the group and even joined them for lunch at Papa's diner.  We were there until past 1pm.

Bill and I had talked about hiking up Brown canyon again to see the progress on the fall foliage.  Galen wanted to come along so when Bill texted me saying he could meet us at 2:30pm at the ranch house, I made sure I got there on time.  That only gave me 40 minutes between coming home from Papa's and driving to the second walk.  Minnie needed to rest and collapsed on her dog bed for the rest of the day.

I only took Zeke this time.  He sure is getting the mileage in now, taking over for Sadie who is slowly weakening in endurance and drive.  Bill, Galen and I started promptly and headed into the sunny canyon.  The sycamores were already more yellow than last week, and I was looking for more dramatic colors as we gained elevation, but when we got to the box canyon, the sun was covered behind clouds and thus any color was diffused.

This was Galen's first time in the box.  He was a delight to have on this hike, as everything around him excited him, from sunlighted grass to red maple leaves on the ground.  His positive energy is infectious. I suggested hiking another .4 miles to the upper falls since we had time.  Clouds got denser and despite being in the open with views facing the east, the low sun couldn't magnify the colors anymore.  Despite this disappointment, being up among the rock slabs  people who had never been here before was exhilarating.  This is the perfect spot for a secluded lunch break: you have a view of the valley, and protection from the rock.

We agreed to repeat this hike next week, in the hopes of seeing more fall color. 

On the way back to the main loop trail we hiked right into the local high school's mountainbike team training.  The riders were racing four loops (20 miles).  Many of the male packs raced by without yelling out any warnings, which quickly irritated me as I had to pull Zeke by the collar and dive into the grass to getting hit.  I understand this is a multi-use trail and I don't begrudge these students from a good work-out, but trail courtesy is a must!  I also understand that had we been hiking in the opposite direction, that we could have more easily seen the riders and made appropriate accomodations.  I even recognized some of the riders, and they were very polite.