Rattlesnake Canyon
I went hiking up Rattlesnake Canyon today, eventually. It wasn't supposed to get over 70F today, which should be nice for hiking. I had vague and slightly grand ideas. I would find glorious things to paint in watercolor and actually manage to finish off my watercolor book. I would head up to Gibraltar and get a nice view of the city, except that the air haze been hazy for weeks and shows no sign of clearing up. I might then head over to Tunnel Trail on the connector, which I don't think I've taken. I would take it up to Mission Fall, which won't be anything until that air gets a nice scrub from some heavy rain so is currently dry rock. Well, that is its usual state anyway.
I started at Skofield Park, where the sign is intact. Heading up, I managed to skip the extra trails and go up the main one. The trail looks as though someone has done some major work on it, returning cut switchbacks and adding more in a few places. I walked up from the trail along a well trod use trail to find a newly bolted rock that overhung a bit. Someone has left a bit of climbing gear around it including a rope that was tied above where I could see at the top of the rock.
I continued up the canyon. The junction was unscorched, but the old wood sign was gone. Since the air would still be hazy, I decided going to the road for the view would be silly and went to the dry waterfall instead. The connector was hot. The tall bushes had all burned, there weren't any trees in the first place. Just before reaching Tunnel, it goes through a tight saddle and it is cool here. Otherwise it is blazing sun. I sat at the junction in the shade and cooled off before continuing to the fall, also known as the next tree. Tunnel was also hot, but it doesn't climb much through that section. I got to the fall and poked around the cliff before finding a nice seat on a big rock under the tree.
I returned the same way I came, stopping just over the saddle on the connector, in the shade of a three foot bush, to draw the layers of mountain along the coast in watercolor.
I was determined to do watercolor and I did do one, even though my water level was getting a bit worrying. It only takes a few 10s of milliliters to do it, after all. Had I been by the creek, I'd have plenty to paint with as there was some running water, but up near the top of a dry tributary didn't offer any other than my drinking water. Coming down, the air had cleared out a bit more than expected, or the angle of the late sun helped. Either way, I was able to have a clear view of the harbor. I didn't turn out to have too terribly little water, having a few sips left at the end.
I started at Skofield Park, where the sign is intact. Heading up, I managed to skip the extra trails and go up the main one. The trail looks as though someone has done some major work on it, returning cut switchbacks and adding more in a few places. I walked up from the trail along a well trod use trail to find a newly bolted rock that overhung a bit. Someone has left a bit of climbing gear around it including a rope that was tied above where I could see at the top of the rock.
I continued up the canyon. The junction was unscorched, but the old wood sign was gone. Since the air would still be hazy, I decided going to the road for the view would be silly and went to the dry waterfall instead. The connector was hot. The tall bushes had all burned, there weren't any trees in the first place. Just before reaching Tunnel, it goes through a tight saddle and it is cool here. Otherwise it is blazing sun. I sat at the junction in the shade and cooled off before continuing to the fall, also known as the next tree. Tunnel was also hot, but it doesn't climb much through that section. I got to the fall and poked around the cliff before finding a nice seat on a big rock under the tree.
I returned the same way I came, stopping just over the saddle on the connector, in the shade of a three foot bush, to draw the layers of mountain along the coast in watercolor.
I was determined to do watercolor and I did do one, even though my water level was getting a bit worrying. It only takes a few 10s of milliliters to do it, after all. Had I been by the creek, I'd have plenty to paint with as there was some running water, but up near the top of a dry tributary didn't offer any other than my drinking water. Coming down, the air had cleared out a bit more than expected, or the angle of the late sun helped. Either way, I was able to have a clear view of the harbor. I didn't turn out to have too terribly little water, having a few sips left at the end.