Bill agreed to join me at 5:30am to start this loop from the Ramsey Cyn Rd parking lot. We were the first two vehicles in the lot.
It was a refreshing 51F at the start. I didnt wear a sweater because I knew it would warm up with the sun.
The sun had just risen when I drove up at 5:30. I almost overslept, so I'm glad we didn't agree to meet at 5am!
We hiked this trail counter-clockwise.
I brought Sahne this time, exchanging her for Gretel who is back in the back yard. She is a great hiker and today she stayed close to us She had no issues with Bill. Even he said she was a nice dog. Her only flaw is that she stays so close to us, she often trips us. Zeke was like that, too. I took her off leash once we were away from the ranch house. We never did come across anyone else.
I felt better today with my wrist. I had no heavy throbbing. We rested at the water trough just long enough to drink water. I wanted to get to the hidden trail before the sun was too high
The trail is a faint single track that follows a barbed wire fence to the high point of almost 5800'. The ground is rocky, with tall grass hiding these rocks. I was wearing my slip-on shoes that offer no protection, so I had to watch my footing. Emory oak, yucca, cholla, prickly pear dot the landscape. We also saw lots of blooming castor bean plants and rainbow cacti.
It's less than half a mile to the peak, then another 0.2 mile to a second, less prominent high point. Then the trail becomes wider and well-trodden and drops precipitously for 07 mile before the trail levels off in the parking lot. We walked near some surveillance radar that I never knew was there.
This loop took us just under three hours. It was 8:40am and I was ready for some iced coffee from McDonalds, my new craving. I order from the app to save $3; what a deal! From there I stopped by Dr. Jackson's office to make appointments for Sweetie and Sahne, then drove home to walk Gretchen for a mile. I still had time to relax before driving off with Sahne to meet up with SteveT and spend time at the Copper Hop ranch brewery. It had been a few months since my last visit and I wanted to hear about the two-week trip to Japan that Tom and Mel took, the owners of the farm brewery.
We drove in separate cars. I had Sahne with me, but he kept Trace at home. We got there at 12:20pm as Tom was still setting up. We were the first customers.
Mel soon joined us. She was still suffering from jet lag (they got back Wednesday), but when I asked her how Japan was, she became animated. I wanted to know about the people and scenery, but she passionately talked at length about the sumo wrestling she watched. It turns out that was the primary reason for going to Japan. She talked about the various wrestlers. I must have looked disgusted, because she mentioned I was making faces. Watching fat men fondle and then flip each other is not my idea of a fun sport, but I also do not know much about the history of the sport.
Steve was quiet. He's normally the one who does all the talking. I asked a few questions about the town and customs, but Mel was mostly interested in sharing her sumo videos with anyone wanting to watch, and she soon had a small group of regulars around her watching the videos from her iPhone.
We were there for two hours. I had three different beers. We had talked about visiting Tia Nita's restaurant in Sonoita, but that place doesnt open now until 4pm; the owner never went back to pre-pandemic operating hours. So we both left hungry.
My last adventure was a near full-moon hike with Sahne around the neighborhood.
No comments:
Post a Comment