beautiful sunday

i took a different route this morning. usually don't do the lower trails on the weekens, both because i want to go farther and because i want to avoid the crowds. we went out early while things were still frozen & took a longer loop, past the sign that talks about how many people invested a great deal of time to save hull's gulch from development.

this is a reminder to me that we have a responsibility to take care of the space that these folks worked so hard to keep public.

these bags are not on an out & back route. the contents were cold & hard. they are between 2 trash cans- not too far from either. and yeah, i picked them up & tossed them, reinforcing that if you leave a mess someone else will clean it up.

i haven't been on these trails for quite a while, mostly because they are usually pretty busy. i started going up higher on weekends after a series of unpleasant encounters with clueless dog owners- more the norm than an anomoly a few years ago. i was shocked to see how much wider the trails are now than they were a few years ago. this is kestral before the red cliffs cut off.

on top of red cliffs.

the trails were frozen when we were out this morning, but have clearly had lots of traffic when wet.

that's ice in the center of the trail, so you can tell that it will be wet here once things warm up.

when i mentioned my surprise at the width of the trails to my husband he said it was because of increased traffic. he mt bikes & covers more ground than i do. this is the parking lot at 9 a.m. i have to agree with him.

it was a beautiful day, and we had a nice hike.