Bikepacking to End the Weekend

November 26, 2023

Bikepacking to End the Weekend

The Spring/Summer growth along the trail up canyon was so complete there were moments I wasn't sure I was still on the beaten path. Of course it has always been that way in the canyon bottom - sometimes the beaten path is wherever you make it. The problem is, "making it" doesn't often do one's legs much good - that spike-tipped ceanothus wasn't the only plant growth hacking at mine. You name it, if it grows there, it was growing across the path I was beating.

Anyway, the camp spot was a nice one for whoever it was that set up there, I bet they had a terrific view of the night sky. Oh, did I not mention, it wasn't me bikepacking to end the weekend. Although... there would be something to say for heading out the door, and an hour later setting up camp for the night. I think, no, I know I would have chosen a spot a little further off the trail though.

I am pretty sure it has been more than a year since last I rode so far up canyon, and by the looks of things not many others have either. That'll change - winter is my favorite season of the year for this particular route.

Other than the aforementioned surge in plant growth, I didn't notice much else had changed, and I am not sure if I was disappointed about that or not. If nothing else I had expected that some of those undercut sections of old road would have collapsed, but no, they are still there, they are still solid. By and large they look worse from above than from below.

It is an interesting time of year up there - I see the summer in the remaining sunflowers, the burgundy of prickly pear fruit; I see the approaching winter in the bare branches of Ribes, just beginning to show a hint of new leaves. I even see further into the future, to Spring when the lupine will share their purple blooms with the world.