never again....

...I said last September after the infamous "Extreme Hike"... will I hike off the Peralta trail looking for an elusive cave. But that is exactly were I found myself again with Jay and his coworker bright and early on a chilly Black Friday morning. At least we didn't have to wait in line to climb the mountain.

At the trail head....Lily says..."Hurry up I want to go hiking!"

Near the base of the mountains,
Jay points to the area we think the cave might be located.

My strategy- hike the trail and when the guys went off trail stay behind with my dog, water and snacks, a walkie-talkie, and my book-went by the wayside when Jay announced, "I don't think we are on the trail anymore."

Had I been thinking more clearly I would have turned back then and found the trail by myself. But I didn't and so I found myself repeating the hike I never wanted to do again, only this time with my dog in tow.

Time for a snack break.

Look closely to see Jay's coworker climbing this ledge below Jay.

Lily is a good hiker but she had never experienced this type of rugged terrain before. There were points where we pushed her up boulders and over ledges and she turned around wanting to go back down. There were some place so steep that we tied a rope around her and pulled her up.


At other points where the crevices between boulders too deep and picky underbrush too tall we put Lily on Jay's back and carried her across.

I was surprised to find some flowers still blooming at the top of the mountain. These are long gone in the valley.

Praise Yah, we made our way up and down again without incident. The boys were disappointed that we didn't find the cave but I was happy for the beautiful hike and the chance to take some amazing photos.