Walker Ranch hike

The forecast promised a hot Saturday with possible thunderstorms. But still well heated most of the day so the hike looked like a good idea... Especially hiking early in the morning, when the air is still cool and the sun is not as strong as after midday.

 

Walker Ranch Loop trail is close enough and there are some trees around to hide in case the sun decides to shine and cook the hikers...

The trail is not as difficult as it was advertised (or, probably, it is easy in the beginning, but it suited me) and views are breathtaking. The slopes are green and please the eyes, the grass and wildflowers are just nice to glance at.

Hiking there you can always see the mouth of Eldorado Canyon somewhere far away. The opening is wide and attracts the hiker's eye...

The slopes on the other side of the trail look so furry and lush... so green...

After a while the trail changes. It doesn't run on the open space anymore but doves down and runs between tall pine trees.

In fact at the next segment the trail is steep and you almost flight down the road and finally you find yourself at the canyon bed where the small creek is running.

The water is cool (this is mountain creek after all) and clear. I was breathing the chill air and looking at the creek bed and my heart started beating harder - something shiny caught my eye and looked just like a golden nugget...

Definitely I fished out what I considered a piece of gold and a sigh of disappointment escaped my chest... right, it wasn't a nugget but a small chunk of mica. To my excuse, the mica was not silvery-white as usual, but yellow-goldy (actually, I never seen this color before) but still I felt like a prospector who thought he stroked a gold vein but figured out it was just fool's gold after all ;)

Being disappointed I decided to turn back and return to the car and leave the place and never come back again. So I did... I hiked the opposite direction, met a few bikers, a couple of runners, friendly spider  and climbed a steep trail all the way up to the summit...

It was windy there and the sun was hidden behind the clouds, so I cannot complain about the weather - it was just perfect!

Actually I didn't plan to hike all the trail and make a 6 hours loop, I wanted a light hike, just for a couple of hours so I did. Two hours and about 3.5 miles in the morning, when the air is still cool and fresh... what can be better for a Saturday hike?

And... sure I wasn't disappointed not finding gold in the creek ;) And definitely will come back again to hike there and maybe one day I'll do the loop...

A couple of extra pictures can be found here -> Just a couple more shots...

Pictures were taken on June 18, 2022.