Los Trancos Open Space Preserve Earth Day Hike
I was going to write out the recipe for my rhubarb cake today, but I thought since it is Earth Day I should post about my hike!
Yes, you read that right… my hike. I haven’t been doing any super secret hikes or anything and keeping them from you. I just haven’t been going. My garmin tells me my last hike was March 10th. Oops. The rainy season hit late this year and I had more than enough excuses to keep me on the couch. Stupid, I know. But after the Fitbloggin meetup yesterday I was totally out of excuses. Sure, there was a vegan bake sale for the house rabbit society in the city today, but taking care of me was more important. Sorry bunnies, I’ll just donate instead.
Yesterday was insanely hot, but today was tolerable in the 80s. It was almost like hiking in Missouri! I went to Los Trancos Open Space Preserve for an easy hike. Not too far and there’s an easy 3 miler. When I got there I wanted to do a bit more so I tried to plot that out. It’s a small park, but pretty cute and has a lot of shade as opposed to Montebello which it is across the street from!
Lots of shade, I was so happy. There was a little bit of open space but not enough for me to complain or melt. A big complaint though? Gnats. Man, those little punks were just swarming and I tend to breathe through my mouth, so yeah. Not pleasant. I haven’t really run into bugs much out here. In Missouri I used to actually hose myself down with bug spray and carry it in my camelbak for another application. Cancer be damned, I wasn’t going to be a feast for bugs. Plus, I’m allergic to mosquitos so that’s a mess in itself. You can’t really do much about gnats though other than try to avoid swallowing them.
I did the Fault Loop trail twice and that’s where most of the gnats were. Oh well. I went up to the Lost Creek Loop and did that twice as well, but most of the bugs were by the Fault Loop which was odd since Lost Creek runs by a creek (duh huh?). I’m full of brilliant information today huh?
I was going to do the Franciscan Loop twice as well, but it turns out I took the wrong direction and had a pretty steep climb. This was at 3.5 miles and I was tired and still had a half a mile to go. I ran into a gentleman who I saw down by the Fault and he said “ah, took the loop the wrong way huh?”. Yes, yes I did. I came back with “you could have told me!” and he said “nah, it’s always best to find out for yourself”. No sir, it is not! I’m a hiking complainer! I did consider doing the loop opposite for a hot minute but I was tired of that damn hill so I wandered back to the trail to the parking lot.
Where I saw my first rattlesnake! Okay, totally heard it first. It rattled at me when I was approaching as it was hanging out on the edge of the trail by some pretty orange flowers. I went way around it hoping there wasn’t a snake gang war or something and I was going onto someone else’s turf. Active imagination? Check. Anyway, did a zoom and took a photo for a friend who is a brilliant herpetologist and who will probably also make fun of me for weeks. Also, I case it sprang at me or something and I needed to tell someone who the hell bit me. It was about 4 feet long, the picture does it no justice. *sigh*. Back at the parking lot I warned people who were getting ready for a group tour to go around the other way and they were all very excited. Not sure the snake wanted visitors though, so good luck to them!
Originally published at Killer Bunnies, Inc. Please leave any comments there.