MT Repetitions

Yesterday my wife and I drove out the valley and hiked at Los Padres dam… It was cold and foggy at home and we were getting bummed!!! At the dam it was hot and sunny. Perfect.

We saw a ton of butterflies
fuzzy ants
red dragonflies
blooming yuccas
strange floating solar devices in the lake
and very few people

Halfway into the hike we came to the stream. It was cool and shady, a fine relief after the heat of the sun on the southern facing trail slope. We doused our hats and shirts and then managed to cross on some rock stepping stones. But then we came to main branch of the river. No stepping stones here. So we went for it. The cold water washed the dirt, grime and heat from our legs. On the other side we followed what we figured to be the trail and it crossed the river again…. since we were already all wet we went again… and then again… and then again. We managed to stay below knee high, keeping our pants dry – and the flow was never so strong we were in danger. And it was fun.. and I felt like a kid.
I also discovered that we have stinging nettles around here. I wasn’t really aware of that… my shins sure found out.

And it reminded me (both the wading and the nettles) of high school training for cross country. One of the last summer runs, before school started was an 8 miler that started at the high school and ran to the Deschutes river. The Deschutes is fed by the cascades – by the end of the summer it’s not too hard to cross, with water not usually above the hips.. We would run down the river for about 2 miles.. in any fashion we could. Mostly this meant tromping down the river itself.. in calf to thigh deep, glacier fed water. In the heat of summer – we’d normally go on a 85+ degree day, it sure was welcome – and fun. I don’t know that we could get away with it today with all the new developments and no trespassing signs that have popped up in the last 20 years.

The hike back yesterday – all wet and cool, was a bit nicer. The sun had moved closer to the ridge, there were a few clouds and the sun seemed a little less opressive. Fairy lanterns and creamsicle colored sticky monkey flower lined our way… as well as marvelously green poison oak. As nasty as poison oak is, it sure would be brown out there without it.

Today. I ran under gray skies along the coast. It seems summer here has already started. We’ll have to do some more trips inland to find the sun.