Rock Climber's Loop

Believe it or not, there are a few trails in Mission Trails that I haven't done and the Rock Climber's Loop is one of them. Its a short hike, only about a mile and a half starting from Josh's house.

Yeah, from Josh's house...we were trying the friend thing again and met at his house after work, heading out to the trail around 4pm. Josh brought his big camera and took a lot of great photos which I imagine he'll post on his blog soon.

I was feeling good and actually flew up the steep trail, well, flew up by my standards anyway. The views from up here are really beautiful and the rocks were spectacular. They don't look nearly as magnificent from the road as they do close up. When we finally reached the top of the trail we walked the crest of the mountain and chatted with some rock climbers who were super nice. I like rock climbers! I've yet to meet any that are pretentious or egocentric, which is kind of what I expect of them since they are such badasses!

After a couple of fun scrambles over slick boulders, the trail headed back down toward the road. Looking at all of the new grass and plants on the hillside made me so excited for spring! Everything is so green and there is so much water, the flowers are going to be amazing,

On our way back to Josh's house we poked around and found some impressive groves of wild cucumber and observed a sharp-shinned or coopers hawk on a light standard.

This is a super fun, super short hike that 's perfect for after work. Next time I go I'll bring a pair of binoculars so I can get a good look at the river bed from that vantage point. As for Josh and I...well, this hike was fun, but things got complicated again soon after and we are back to just the occasional email. I wish it would work between us because I miss my friend, but I think relationships are like farts; if you have to force it, its probably shit.