Lower Miller Creek

It continued to rain today, a steady rain overnight that stopped before sunrise.  The heavy clouds continued, though, making the sunrise nondescript but emphasizing hues of grey (fifty shades of grey?).  I walked the dogs briefly on the maintenance road, but had to turn around at Carr Creek because the flow was too strong and too deep to cross, making the walk a mere 1.44 miles.  That is a short distance even for the dogs, but that is better than staying in the back yard and barking at the neighbor's dog Angel, a GSDX.

The stock pond is now replenished and the grass around it is saturated.  It's the most water I've seen there since last winter.  This is good for wildlife and for the dogs.  The pond seems to encourage Minnie to walk.  She tends to walk faster and last longer when there is water along the way she can walk into.

By 10am the skies started to clear up and I contacted Susan about hiking the Tinker Pond Loop.  She responded that heavy thunderstorms were predicted for 1pm, and that she'd rather walk up Miller Canyon instead.  I'm so glad I agreed to that, as that is what happened.

We met at noon at the lower Miller canyon parking lot.  We were the only cars there.  Most people who hike this area don't come until around 3pm.  We had the trail all to ourselves, and what splendor it was.   The sky was cloudy but blue, but I could see the beginnings of rain on the western side of the mountains. The creek was gushing, and the water seemed to accentuate the green and yellows.  Normally winter scenes are drab, but this walk seemed so colorful.

The dogs enjoyed the water.  The loud gushing reminded me of hiking the John Muir trail in canyons overflowing with snowmelt.  It was so loud near the water that we could barely hear each other.  The smells of dead leaves and wet grass were prominent.  Red berries stood out.  This short walk was a feast for the senses.

We made this a 2.25 mile walk, turning around just before the upper parking lot by Beatty's Orchard.  We walked back the way we came, then cut across to the road in the last half mile.  We started feeling rain drops at 12:54.  The forecast for rain at 1pm was accurate!

It even began to hail.  Susan noticed it first.  I thought it was just heavy rain drops, but then she showed me a hail corn.  By god, hail!  And when we got back to the cars at 1:20pm, the rain became more steady.  She drove off first, but I stayed parked, waiting for the downpour to subside.

The rain then continued for most of the afternoon.  I was just glad to get out with the dogs on the trail before the rain. Once the rain fell, temperatures dropped again.  Even the house was cold and I was back to cold hands again.