Instead of taking you back to the flower gardens (I’ll save that for another day when we desperately need some color), today my personal trainer (AKA, SuperDad, my dh) took me to a park by the river north of town. We drove to the small parking lot, unloaded our bikes, and rode along a paved trail until we crossed a bridge. While he locked our bikes up at a trailhead, I walked back to the bridge for a photo:
SuperDad hiked this canyon area on Sunday afternoon with SnakeMaster. They had approached it from above, using a trail that descended from a parking area, but I chose to bike in rather than stumble down a steep path.
Unfortunately, no one bothered to tell me that biking was uphill both ways. Yes, it was. Really.
What started out as a pleasant path into the brush soon opened into a riverbed that carved its way through gigantic basalt boulders.
[click on any photo to enlarge the image]
The creek is mostly dried up at this time of year, so you can walk right up the riverbed over sand and rocks worn smooth by spring rapids.
The area is a favorite with rock climbers. Unlike some climbing areas around town, this one is not easily accessible; you can’t drive here in a motor vehicle. The big benefit is that there is no garbage or broken glass left by “partiers.”
There are anchored carabiners on the most challenging inverse slopes, left by those who came before. Because it is a Monday and not the weekend, there were no climbers to be seen at 10am. My dh told me that yesterday there were some people climbing up these cliffs.
The shade of the inverse slope makes it a pleasant place to be on a warm day.
In the spring time, the water rages through this little canyon. This morning, the only loud thing was my bright yellow shirt!
Spokalulu 