Lynch Canyon

Today Kathryn, Joan, Nick and I returned to Lynch Canyon which was open this time. We decided to take the Middle Valley Trail.

The trail was fairly muddy the whole time - even the areas that were in the sun.

We jumped a fence and trespassed to get this and the next 8 shots. I think it was worth almost getting arrested.

Nick was off climbing a tree when I took this picture.

There was a bunch of Lizards under the trees. Kathryn almost stepped on several of them. I think they were all blue belly lizards but I'm not sure.

This is where our trail ended and we decided to head back.

This was a rather random rock formation we found on the hike. Nick, once again, donned a climbing attitude and climbed up.

More muddy trails. At times I thought I was going to slide off the path and others the mud tried to suck my shoes off. My boots were still drying from the hike two days earlier so I was in shoes that could get sucked off easily.

This was probably the driest part of the trail...as we were leaving.

Rush Ranch **Post Edit**

Today Kathryn and I went to go hike through Lynch Canyon, but when we got there it was closed to we went to Rush Ranch.
Rush Ranch is a working ranch that has horses and cattle and three trails - The Marsh Trail, The South Pasture Trail, and The Hill Trail. Additionally it has education programs on farm life and so has displays on farm equipment and windmills. This was one of many horses we saw.
Kathryn and I both like taking pictures and so we had a lot of time to take pictures.

Thankfully, the trail was mowed just a few days earlier. The grass was only about 6 inches deep.
Hunters can hunt in the water but not on the Rush Ranch property.



I thought this picture was just ironic - one sign saying to keep the gate closed, and the other chained open.
After we were done hiking we went to a group of eucalyptus trees. I learned today that those type of trees were originally imported to the US from Australia for house building, but it was later discovered that the wood shrinks as it dries and there fore is hard to build with. However, the trees provide a better habitat to certain critters, so the trees have been allowed to stay.




The windmills were fun to photograph.

Kathryn and I decided that this horse's mom was a horse and the father was a Great Dane/Dalmatian mix.

**Post Edit**
I brought my dad's film camera along and here are the shots.