Cronan Ranch big group hike

Today we are hiking at Cronan Ranch. It is my far the biggest group we have had that I know of. We have 26 people who have shown up. To help manage group sizes we have split into two groups. Steve will be leading one and I will be leading together. We will both start in opposite directions and meet in the middle for lunch at the river.

We stopped under this beautiful large oak tree with a large bright green colored, moss covered rock to shed the first layer of warmth and check how everybody is doing.

The river sits under clear skies with a bright sun

Any of the trees still have some of their leaves with some muted fall colors

We’ve stopped for lunch on the Rocky shore. The river has some small rapids as it rushes past us, giving a beautifully serene sound.

The second half of our group has shown up. We took a couple of good group shots both with a river background and on some of the larger boulders.

I found this gorgeous yellow flower, sticking up amongst a patch of dried brown grass

Following lunch, we continued on our clockwise route of the trail. We are now on the section that the other half of the group just completed, as they do the same for the Trail we were on. The wide open foothills give a beautiful view.

This large mushroom is sitting just off the side of the trail. It has a small pool of water sitting in the middle

Our section of Trail now takes us through Moore open foothills that continue spectacular views

We climb higher on the West Ridge Trail. From here, we can look down below into the valley and see the other half of our group on the road below.

Our trail takes a fairly steep but windy drop back to the Valley floor and the parking lot where we meet the full group and return to our vehicle vehicles.

Today was a great hike with spectacular weather, beautiful views, and good conversation with both hikers. I have been with before and new people that I hope where we return for more. Today was a shorter than normal hike at 6 1/2 miles, but very comfortable