December 28
Today I find myself back at Cronin Ranch with seven other hikers .
It is a drizzling this morning and the weather app states it is supposed to stop in 15 minutes. I don’t think it will. We head out down the muddy trail, but have smiles on our faces because even in the rain creation is beautiful.
Portions of the trail mimic small streams with large puddles that we have to navigate around
Today we are hiking in the opposite direction that I have hiked these trails before. It is really neat to see the way changing directions shows the trail in a whole different impression. Usually the river is to my back today. It is directly in front of me.
Normally, this is a dry stream bed today it flows over the trail, puddling up in the middle.
We go over and through gorgeous rolling hills. The weather did not clear up. It is still drizzly and overcast, but the scenery is amazing.
We drop back down to the level of the river. This is our turnaround point. On a sunny day we would stop and relax alongside the river for a bit, but with the drizzle, we’ve decided to just turn around and head back. The river still is beautiful, however.
Looking across the river, the hillside has cloud banks nestled in its shallow valleys
Hiking back, we normally take a mid slope trail today we dropped back down to the river to a trail. I have not been on before, but it parallels the water and gives beautiful glimpses through the trees and berry bushes
This bright green shrub is known as the Scottish broom. It is an invasive plant that roots deeply and is very hard to eradicate.
The trail passes by some beautiful moss covered rocks and trees. Their greens very in color and are spectacular
I’m always intrigued by the rocks that just seem to appear from the earth in no particular order and sometimes all alone.
There are beautiful clumps of deer grass growing alongside the river. They are slightly brown due to the cold weather. It will be interesting to see how green they turn in the spring.
The river is backdropped by beautiful hillsides rising from the waters edge on the opposite shore.
Another large arrangement of moss colored rocks shows off more beautiful greens
We continue alongside the river with more awesome views of the water and rapids
After a very gentle uphill climb, we reach the main trail which delivers us back to the parking lot and at the end of a beautiful 7 mile hike.
