As Far as the Eye Can See

The road behind our house winds up the hill for five miles getting ever narrower and more curvy, dropping off precipitously on one side. The cement barriers give way to metal railings which peter out about the same time the two lane road turns to one lane. Persistence and very slow speeds are well rewarded when the trees drop away and the view as far as the eye can see is revealed.

From the summit with its far view of hills and its nearer views of rocky, emerald green hillocks, the road plunges down again into Hood Mountain Regional Park with its oaks and conifers, bay laurels and sumac. From the parking lot we hiked down a wide trail, which drops straight down on one side to the Santa Rosa Creek (the same one that runs behind the houses across the street from ours).

A couple of miles brought us to the creek, which was looking less picturesque since the heavy rain last month which inundated the banks and receded, leaving behind a litter of drowned plants, tangled vines and branches, and little eddies of  dead leaves caught amongst the rocks. Ozzie vanished into the underbrush and had us searching up and down the creek, until he nonchalantly appeared from somewhere directly below us where he had no doubt been up to no good. Although the crossing over rocks looked quite passable, I decided not to risk hiking back with wet shoes (or worse).

Coming back to the parking lot we met the only person we saw all morning, a man who was planning on hiking the five or so miles up the trail on the other side of the creek to Sugarloaf State Park and Hood Mountain. He was quite pleased that his daughter was going to pick him up there so he wouldn't have to hike back. 

Daughters are nice that way….