Between the Rain Drops & Mucho Mistletoe

Christmas morning, Leah, me and Spain headed out from Spain's condo onto the trail at Arroyo Trabuco. Just an hour earlier it had been a clear Blue cover, but no sooner did we lace up the walking shoes, but Mr.Fog creeped in and hid Blue from us! The temp dropped quickly! Luckily we all had fleece jackets on stand-by. So on with the fleece, ear covers and gloves, some water and gels and off we went....no matter what! It was NOT raining and that meant OUTSIDE! We were so happy to just move! The fog kept the walk shrouded in mystery, wondering what was up ahead. Even though we've been on this trail plenty, we wanted to see what damage the rain had done through the arroyo. We could hear the rage as we walked along but we were a bit high up and not willing to tramp through lots of wet grass. A bit farther down we would be able to check it out. Sure enough, the overview revealed a river, where before had been a creek! All brown and swirling and gushing and well, kind of cool. It felt so good to be near all the nature, we headed down into the lower area and walked along the creek's new pathway it had created. We spotted a nice big cat print, same area we'd spotted the cat a couple months previous. So me and Leah started making this big deep sounds to let the cat know we were big trouble; yeah right.....hahah...our laughter was enough to scare him off! We got as far as the best part of the trail..what's called Ho Chi Minh trail due to the hanging vines and plants and lush, jungle like growth, and were stopped by a mess of brush/trees blocking any further progress. Oh no! Our favorite local mtn bike trail won't be available for a very long time. And who knows what it will look like when it gets cleared up...Well, the 3 hours hiking out there was wonderful nonetheless....Sunday, Spain and I got on bikes and rode from Aliso Woods up the bike path for a 22 mile 'round trip. Wonderful to be on my bike after too much time away. Cool breeze, and all kinds of water crossing and toppled trees along this trail as well. It's uphill going and a fun downhill all the way back. The one bit of dirt trail was just off the main paved one close to home. That's about it for dirt for awhile....with more rain in the forecast, those knobby tires will be tucked away in the garage until......next year!!!!!!!

Black Star Revisited~~

I've been asking....when can we ride Black Star again?? When ? When? Finally, yesterday we drove, we parked, we rode! What?? 82+ degrees on a December day.....oh well, we had water and sunscreen so off we went. What I like about Black Star, out there near Modjeska off Santiago Canyon Rd, is the beautiful scenic fire trail all the way up and the wonderful views when you get there. I like the slow steady pace of a predictable climb. No big boulders, plenty of width from the edge, far away views, quiet, very peaceful, no crowds but not totally alone either. It's a medium, tough ride. On the way up, I got to play Florence Nightingale to a tough ridin' senior who must have been in his late 60's, early 70's. He was having a tough time getting his chain back on after having a spill that had left blood trickling down his knee and a scraped elbow. Geez, I always forget a good pic like that!! I was too busy pulling out my antiseptic spray and trying to get it on his wound and not all over his leg. HAHA!! He was very appreciative. He was waiting for his riding buddy who came barreling down the hill a few minutes later; another 70+ year old biker dude! We stopped a few times to rest and drink and gel then took off again. It took us about 2 hours to ride up about 1,200 feet where we stopped and feasted on our Ritz Bits and cheese sticks; our favorite trail snack...oh yeah and dessert was melted York Peppermint patties...mmmm. We had a perfect picnic spot, though it was short from the very top spot....just another 20 min ride up but I was DONE.....Riding down was so fun....10 minutes total at the most....weeeeeee all the way down.

There is a new barbed wire/electric fence along some private property that was not there two years ago when we rode through. It was creepy to see all these ELECTRIC FENCE signs and dire warnings and rolls of wire and STAY OUT signs. Alright, already, we aren't trespassers! It gave me a bad feeling about who owned this big spread. And how much they distruss people. I sure hope the birds can read the signs, and the coyotes and the deer. I guess they will figure it out before long........Oh, by the way, that's Catalina Island waaaayyy out there in the photo with my arms crossed....see it? right by my head???? Pic. doesn't show you Fashion Island and more...quite a view yesterday~~