Old La Honda Trail

Blog kitt decided around 17:37 on 14 May 2016 to publish this:

So, Andy said, "Let's go hiking!" this morning. I answered something like, "Hhhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnn...." Tilly was a bit more persuasive, though.

We went to the "La Honda Trail" which meant something to Andy and Kris and all the cyclists who ride up Old La Honda Road, and absolutely nothing to me. Which was good, I think. An adventure!

I seriously wish I had brought my Canon, with its macro lens, as many of the pictures I wanted to take were meh with the phone camera I used.

At the start of the trail, Andy told me to "Cross the bridge," then pointed to a fallen redwood tree that crossed a flowing creek. The creek and rocks were maybe three meters below the trunk. Tilly ran across and back and across and back.

I walked to the tree, stepped onto the trunk, and imagined all sorts of visions of falling off the tree. I didn't want to cross. I didn't want to try. When Tilly bumped me as I was standing at the end of the tree, my feet still over solid ground, I decided that no, I was not going over this tree over this creek. Thanks.

This is not the tree Andy told me to cross, but one of maybe a dozen he and Tilly walked across on the hike:

The trail has lots of switchbacks ("Lots of unnecessary switchbacks," as Andy says). The trails are wide and for the most part smooth. Andy said that last week when they were hiking the trail, it was wet, with the creek swollen. The trails were just rivers of mud, instead of the flats of dirt we had. Where trunks and branches were laid across the trail, were mud-flats crossings.

The trail is a loop. At the far end is Schilling Lake (which stinks, by the way) and the only location any cell services exist on the trail. We walked up to the lake and looped back around. At one point, I went on what I thought was the trail, and heard Andy mutter, "I think that'll meet up farther down." Tilly followed me. A few steps in, however, she turned to go back. I kept going. When the trail did meet up with Andy, he asked me if I had Tilly.

"Uh.... no. She turned back."

Which started a find-Tilly search. I couldn't hear Ivan if he had her, so I ran back to where I saw her last. She wasn't there. I ran back to the trail join, where Andy was there, with Tilly.

Phew!

At the end of trail, when we had looped back, we were close to the fallen tree I didn't cross. "Maybe now you can cross," Andy said.

I had some time to think about it, about crossing. Was I going to be peer pressured into crossing the tree? Did I want to cross the tree? Was the reward of the other side worth the risk?

Andy sensed my hesitation and dashed across the log. With his encouragement to keep Tilly still, important to me in avoiding a bump during my crossing, I walked over the fallen tree to the other side. Andy called Tilly, who promptly dashed over the fallen tree and ran all over the small clovers I wanted to picture at the other side of the trail.