The darkness and the threat of predators had me taking the girls out only when I had a flashlight and a big hiking stick. No coyote was going to get my girls....not on my watch.
Sunday morning arrived with both of us eager to for a good hike. We decided on a trail called Lighthouse Trail. We also decided to leave both dogs in the RV. We were not certain of the terrain and some of the trails had been closed due to heavy rain. I do not think we have ever left Penny Lane behind but this time it seemed to be the right thing to do.
So, we got the girls a walk, made sure they had food and water and tucked them in for a bit.
We drove to the trail head and laced our hiking boots. The trail was listed at six miles roundtrip so we packed a lunch and some water. When we started, it was overcast and a bit cool but it was good for hiking.
Lighthouse trail is only moderately strenuous. The trail is fairly wide and there are cactus, wildflowers and brush on both sides. I am always amazed by all the beautiful little flowers that manage to live in such harsh environments.
As we got farther down the trail, the we were surrounded by hills of amazing color.
When we got about two miles down the trail, we spotted Lighthouse. The formation continued to pop in and out of our line of sight until we came to the trail's end.
By the time you get to the trail's end, the formation is not very visible. To our great advantage, there were two hikers who had just finished a lesser known version of the Lighthouse hike. They showed us a slotted trail that led right to the base of Lighthouse and another formation.
UP THE TRAIL
When we got to the end of this trail, there was a nice bench. We stopped and had a bite of lunch before we made our final push to the top.
By this point, the trail was less obvious but the destination was clear. We got to the base of one of the formations and climbed up to a "shelf." This shelf allowed us to get to the base and then around to the back side of Lighthouse.
VIEW FROM NEAR THE TOP. THE YOUNG CLIMBERS THAT I MENTION IN THE NEXT PARAGRAPH CLIMBED THE GRAY COLORED LEDGE TO THE LEFT. NOT ME. NOT THEN, NOT EVER.
THE SHELF
Once we got near the top of the formation, we took a minute to look around. We had a quick chat with a couple of young hikers. They decided they needed to get all the way to the top of the formation. To do that, you had to use hand and footholds. Doing that would entail hanging from the ledge. That meant that Rob and I had gone as high as we were going. My fear of heights was already keenly aware of what we had just done. Our view was spectacular and I was not about to ruin it for 15 extra feet.
We started back down and had an easy go of it. The sun had come out and the weather had turned so pleasant. We got to the car and headed back.
We stopped on our way and had a very short hike to an interesting cave.
We got back to the car and made our way to Lewis and our girls. They were groggy from a good sleep but still happy to see us.
We picked out one more hiking trail and took them with us. It was a short, easy hike but they were thrilled to be included.
Back at the RV, we were treated to a visit by a Roadrunner.
We also saw several other feathered friends at a nearby wildlife viewing blind.
After an absolutely wonderful day of hiking, we had a bit of dinner and spent the rest of the evening enjoying the peacefulness of the canyon.
Monday dawned clear. It was moving day but we decided to go for a trail run before we packed up and left.
We had decided to take Penny and once we had her in her harness, we were off. The trail was awesome! The surface was packed earth and we had good ups and downs throughout. We even hit a few "goat paths."
NARROW WITH A BIT OF A DROP TO THE LEFT
PENNY LANE LEADING THE WAY
NARROW WITH A BIT OF A DROP ON THE RIGHT
We finished our run and we all had a bit of the red clayish dirt on our feet. We made our way back to the RV and did a bit of cleaning up before packing and making our way out of the canyon.
We decided that we would not tow Clark. The drive up was fairly steep and we were only going 35 miles to our RV park.
UP AND OUT OF THE CANYON
Our drive to our campsite was uneventful. We arrived, got our site and set up. We are now enjoying sunshine, chirping birds, a light breeze and some tunes.
Another great day in this thing we call life.
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