Training begins

My training partner (Hops) and I did our first backpacking training for the season.  Well...my partner doesn't need any training - she is ready to go at a moments notice.

We went to ST Park and did a 4 mile loop with a 10 lb pack.   Pack was stuffed with crushed tomatoes, cream of mushroom soup, towels and water bottles! I tried my lighter boots and decided I don't like them for backpacking.  They are pretty flexible and with a little extra weight of a backpack, my feet and ankles didn't feel very stable.

It has been a great wildflower season

We had two funny events on this hike:

First, we are hiking along and Hops was running up on the hillside.  In doing so, she accidentally flushed a few birds out of the bushes....which scared the the bejeezes out of her!  She came ripping down the hill towards me and whipped her butt around to face up hill, as if to say "what the hell was that"!

Shortly after, we were hiking around on a trail and looking up on a hill towards another trail heading down hill.  I was watching a couple of mountain bikers ride down the hill.  The first two made it down fine but the guy at the top started getting all squirrelly!  I watched him get more and more out of control until he was finally pitched about 6 feet off the trail, upside down into a bush.  It was an epic crash!   I heard him yell "oh shit" on his way over. I called up to him to see if he was ok because his friends were long gone.  He said he was fine and set about to right himself.  His friends finally came back and I told them the details of the crash and as buddies do, they laughed!