Last night it got down to 40 degrees. Now that is not cold if you are from a colder climate, however, for some of the thin blooded types around here, it was too cold to live, or at least that is what they tried to tell me. When we reached the trail head of the Two Trees trail it was about 50 degrees. I probably could have worn my hiking shorts, but I opted for long pants today.
We were on the trail for about a quarter of a mile when the silence of the morning was interrupted by this terrible racket coming from up the trail. Mountain bikers coming down the trail. The first biker held up his hand and stated there were five of them as he zipped by. The last of the five came around the point of the switchback in front of us and all of a sudden had a startled look on his face when he saw us. We had stepped off the trail because it did not make sense to stay on the trail.
We were trying to break last weeks record for our hike and we were off to a slow start as we had to wait for the mountain bikers. We shortened out traditional stops and moved as fast as we could up the trail. The longest stop we took was at what I now call coyote rock because that is where Emily was sitting when she spotted the coyote a couple of weeks ago.
We moved up the trail to the road at the top fairly quickly. When we passed through the parking area for the Box Springs Mountain Park we saw the mountain bikers. The made it to the bottom, put their bikes in a truck and had arrived for another trip down the mountain.
After the parking lot We then caught the Edison Trail and did not stop as we had the week before. Soon enough we were out on the dirt road and heading back the the parking area and on to the Two Trees trail.
It was a great day to hike. We could see the dusting of snow on the mountains around us. The sun felt great and the air was cool. Last week the 5.11 miles was done at 2.3 miles an hour. The plan is to go a little faster next week.
