A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Today, I invited Brett to go on a hike to Tenaja Falls and have a picnic there.  We used to hike and picnic and, ahem, enjoy ourselves when we were young and impetuous. He agreed -- now that he has a bionic knee we can go for walks again. I was told that the trail is short and the falls pretty, with a couple of nice swimming holes.  The trail head was about 10 miles down the back road from our community.

We found the trail head and set out.

The grass and chaparral are brown and dry this time of year.

We didn't expect to find water in the stream.

Our beautiful,tinder dry, mountains.

Typical footing on our trails.  This is why Jackson's feet have to be strong.  Steep, with boulders and loose rock.

Do you see the falls in the distance?

Just an itty bitty trickle of water.  We haven't had measurable rain since May.

WHY do people smoke and throw their cigarette butts on the trail??!!  In high fire season no less!

The swimming holes were pretty.... the graffiti not so much.

Why put this stuff on the rocks in an area of natural beauty?!  Take your spray cans and go away.

We found a quiet place at the top of the falls for our picnic.

 It was a good day.  A little exercise, a little wine, lots of fresh air... spent with the love of my life.  It just doesn't get any better than this.