Monday, June 22, 2009

Whitney Prep 04 - Mt. Shorty

On Saturday Mike and I went for a trial hike in Dry Dusty State Park. Our goal was to make it to the top of Mt. Shorty (a scant 2,800 ft. tall), but, more importantly, to be gone long enough to practice the pumpanddump.

Dry Dusty State Park was actually clouded over on Saturday. We trudged in deep cloud cover and often rain for most of the way. I took a jacket that had served me well in the past but turned out to be not-so-waterproof.

Mike is standing in front of what should have been a look out over a valley vista. Too bad all you can see is the Yucca plant in full bloom.

Because of the cloudy conditions we couldn't see very far ahead or behind and we were forced to follow the trail signs. This turned out to be a bad decision and we spent too much time hiking on a wrong trail. A chance encounter with another hiker coming off the peak put us back on the right trail. The damage was done, however. We had planned to be gone for only two Zeke feedings so we had to turn back just short of the summit.
This adventure taught us good things. Like the importance of wearing pants and knowing the poisonous plants on the trail. And the importance of having a pair of flip flops handy after the hike is over.

(Caption: Tina Revels in the Poison Oak. There was plenty on the trail and most of it had turned a lovely shade of red.)


(Caption: This Is A Weird Plant, Eh? There were a lot of these too, but they look like they belong to another planet. The color didn't come out in the picture - they were rainbow colored.)

3 comments:

Barbara Jackson said...

Your posts are always entertaining!!!!

Nicole said...

Hilarious! I love that you look like you want to hug that poisinous oak

ol' Bob said...

"The color didn't come out in the picture - they were rainbow colored."

Diversity plants?