30Jul-Photo Release – On this trip to Del Valle we decided to take a trail we had never taken before. It looked slightly steep to begin with, but we couldn’t see beyond the ridge immediately above us. The girls convinced me that we could do it. Actually I looked up that trail as we passed it on the flat one. That’s enough of a cue for them to go that way with great haste. They were half way up the first slope before I said, “Oh, what the heck?” and started up behind them.
Have I ever told you how I used to be able to run up these suckers? No? Well, I did – back in the day. This day, however, in 2021, I made it up the first slope without passing out. It was a close thing. Then I looked up the next, much higher, slope and nearly pee’d my pants. That’s back when the two hounds were at their peak performance and they simply flew up, made ridiculously high-G U-turns, and flew back down side by side on the same two-foot wide path I was on, at higher speeds than miles-per-hour. It was during this hike that I learned I could still leap the hell out of the way.
I made it another 100 feet in elevation – maybe – before the gasping could be heard downtown. I don’t remember saying anything or making a conscious decision, but I was suddenly headed downhill and there was no path to be found. The dogs thought it was great fun and ran circles around the guy bouncing and rolling downhill. I got caught up in some brambles thankfully. In fact, I captured a great scene looking right through them.
Most of the shots I made that day were too dark to work with. I didn’t make many to begin with but I really wasn’t into it. I was honestly shaking from the exertion. The roll downhill didn’t break anything, so that was a good thing. I did catch a few nice shots of the lake from a totally different perspective for me – higher than I usually get when that close to the lake. I just happened to pick a spot that ended up at an almost sheer drop-off down to the path I was trying to get to. I made the last 100 feet on my ass. The dogs thought it was the best hike ever. We pass that path every time we hike the East Shore Trail. They head up it every time. I don’t pay any attention, and eventually they come back to me, cussing under their breath. They think I don’t hear them. HA!
30Jul-Photo Release
Del Valle March 17, 2021
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