A Sign of Things

to come.

We had a little summer BBQ at work. And as part of it they had a car show. Not a lot of entries, but I snapped a few photos, and I'm posting one.

It's a Fauxcedes! Actually, it's supposed to be a 1934 Mercedes. And it sort of is. It looks like it anyway. It's really a kit car with a fiberglass body on a GM chassis (I think). But it's still a nice looking car.

Why is it a sign of things to come? Because there's a much larger car show right around the corner, with plenty more opportunities for DHCBWOCHO!

Something Old, Something New

Summer is finally arriving. Though the cold and wet and windy has hung on amazingly well. It appears the warm weather has finally made it!

Which means - time for a hike. As for something old - I went back to the State Park I've hiked many times, usually once a year. Something new - I hiked a long different trail I've never been on. I thought this trail was unfinished in the past so I avoided it. Not sure, but it's a loooong loop now that went around a second reservoir at the park, then back to where I started.

I started at the north reservoir. This is the face of the old dam from near the bottom. Built from 1902-1904. But still doing its job. Time to hit the trail and head south...

A separate spillway from the dam. Running a bit of water, made for a pretty good current in the stream that leads to the second reservoir.

Lots of terrain changes along this trail. Trees and greenery near the stream, lots of rocks, cactus, etc especially farther away. Some areas were pretty flat, some quite steep and rocky with slippery small gravelly rock on the trail. The weather was nice - low to mid 70s for temps, light breezes, mostly cloudless. Though by the end of the day all the sun was making me feel a bit like a baked potato. Even with a hat and sunscreen.

The trail ended being a LOT longer than I expected from looking at  the map. Lots of turns and switchbacks. Plus I took the longest routes possible when there were shortcuts. Just to see more. Which my legs were rather unhappy about by the end of the day. Here's a relatively flat spot, with the second reservoir becoming visible in the distance.

This was along the most difficult part of the trail. Very rocky, steep up and down, winding around with loose footing. And no shade. By this point I was getting tired, so I kind of slowed down going through this area. Fortunately, at the end of this section I crossed the reservoir, and the return trip was a much easier trail.

The trail back was mostly pretty flat and featureless. Though there was this interesting rock formation along the way.

All in all a good hike. Worth a second pass. Maybe I'll hike it from the other direction someday!

You Did What?

Went for a hike! Yeah, really! In early March! Since its been a month since we last had snow, and we've had quite a bit of warm weather, things have dried out a lot. And with temps into the 60s, I decided to try something I generally NEVER do - go for a winter hike. It was a success, but with a few difficulties. I hit both of the places I hike the most during the summer/fall. Just to try them out.

The first place was great. Though the roads in were closed, the trails were quite good. In places, there was snow packed, drifted spots. But by and large the ground was mostly clear! Hiking here was really easy, much easier than I expected. I thought I might be impassible in spots - I was wrong!

What sort of creature is this? Kind of looks like the shadow of an alien or creature to me. But its really just water from melting snow running across a big slab of granite.

The sky - partly cloudy was nice. Though a lot of the day, it was totally overcast. With a mild breeze it felt a tad chilly when the sun wasn't out.

At the second place I went, it was the opposite. Only 10 or so miles away, but the snow was solid everywhere. In the winter this area has groomed trails for cross country skiing, snowshoeing, etc. But even in the trees off the trail, EVERYWHERE was packed solid with snow. How the terrain can be so different in such a short distance, I don't know.

This is normally the trail I hike into this area. Under that snow somewhere. The snow was pretty hard so I was able to walk on top of it. But just a little soft on the surface. I didn't hike here a lot, but the hike was very tiring very quickly. Must have been due to the semi-firm snow, my legs got real tired hiking on this snow where they didn't at all hiking the other area.

A log fence on my way out. You can just see the snow in the edge. It was clear to the right, and solid snow to the left. Where I was hiking. I was just glad to get out and take a break!

Update From The Road

Just a few shots from a recent holiday trip. Nothing too holiday themed I promise! These were all actually from December, but I just got around to posting them now.

The sunrise of an early morning drive. Where's my coffee? Nice sunrise though!

Now this looks pretty 'cool'. A frosty trail the day after a heavy fog made everything white and frosty.

What is it? Unusual. A fence maybe? Actually its a decorative lamp in a hospital waiting room, where I spent too much of this trip due to a sick family member. But it all worked out OK. Long story.

Not Quite...

Just a quick update, post Photowalk contest.

The Grand Prize and 10 Runner-Up prizes were picked. Unfortunately, mine was not among them. Here's a link to the page with the winners, (for as long as it works) and the reasoning behind their wins, per Scott Kelby who runs the whole thing and makes the final call on judging.
http://scottkelby.com/announcing-the-winners-from-my-8th-annual-worldwide-photo-walk/

A day later they also announced a follow up with Honorable Mentions. This was good - there were over 30 picks here. All shots he really liked, but didn't win any prizes.
http://scottkelby.com/honorable-mentions-from-my-8th-annual-worldwide-photo-walk-2/ 

You may notice, I am not in this set either. Bummer. So all together, there were about 45 winners selected from the group of over 900. Has to be a tough thing to judge. I can't say I like or agree with all his choices of winners, but anything like this is extremely subjective to whatever the judge likes/dislikes at this moment in time. I think I had a pretty good entry, but I guess I shall have to try again!