Brown Canyon

 The coffee I had yesterday after my turkey meal kept me up until 2am and I thus overslept this morning for a Meet-Up group walk around Brown Canyon. Susan said she was joining everyone since it was her birthday and I wanted to celebrate with her.  She doesn't normally pre-register for a hike in case she oversleeps.  I didn't pre-register, either.

It was a breezy, cool morning.

The weekly trash pick-up, which normally is on Thursdays, came early today.  I barely managed to pull the trash bin out in time.  The driver saw me and waited for me, giving my just-as-surprised neighbor Chad time to pull out his trash bin.  The driver was kind enough to back up the truck to take Chad's trash.  What a nice gesture.  Normally the drivers are rushed to pick up everyone's bin and drive off.

I arrived ten minutes after the scheduled meet-up time and there was no one in the crowded parking lot.  So I walked toward the Brown ranch with Gretel hoping to run into the slower group but that never happened.

I let Gretel off leash when I was off the trail following game trails.  I eventually ran into Teresa and Vicki, two gals in the group that started with 15.  I was past two miles into the hike by then. She told me the group had rested at the horse trough a mile up the trail and continued up the canyon.  I ended up walking back with them to the parking area.  That was a 5.4-mile walk in the end, longer than the standard loop hike would have been.  Susan's GMC Terrain SUV was still parked off the road.

The trail was busy with MTBers, forcing me to jump off the trail to let them by.  Mountainbikers have the right to use the forest trails, but they have ruined Brown Canyon for me.  The trail is heavily grooved and badly eroded now.

I did get to see some fall colors, and even walked past a pinon pine that is used every winter as a Christmas tree.

Teresa told me the group was going to get together at the Landmark Cafe in town.  I went there at noon hoping to see others in the group, but no one but Ellen came by.  We had coffee and chatted another hour but then left at 1:30pm.

It turns out that Susan never had the intention of joining the group there after the hike.  Everyone just went on home after the hike. Susan doesn't go out to eat very often anyway  and she prefers tea over coffee anyway.