Petrichor
“A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain.”
29 May 2024 Shanahan Ridge Clouds hovered low in the southern sky, dripping whimsical virga into the atmosphere, and decorating the traffic jam at Hwy 128 & 93, where the traffic lights had malfunctioned, and various deputies now posed on the asphalt, gesturing officiously at the traffic. Meanwhile the rain rose back into the sky, like a damp gray theatre curtain whose play had just begun.
Huh what?
Undeterred by the meandering narrative, our fearless adventurers sallied forth, to the venerable Shanahan Ridge trail. The goal was to reach the Mesa Trail.
Plenty of flowers, a few hikers and joggers. All the cattle gates were closed and chained, and no cattle to be seen. A deer or two, with budding velvet antlers. S and D trudged upward, past the mid-point sign, and another half mile from there to the Mesa Trail. Huzzah!
Cross the gully, and some rain happened. Light rain in sunshine. Drops bouncing off a large spiderweb. Just a spritz on the leaves, for photography’s sake.
Then it was back down the south leg, and through the neighborhood at Hardscrabble Drive, bypassing the little up and downhill segment at the trailhead.
Four miles, 780 feet elevation gain. A goodly loop, and another successful BNO.