There were 9 of us and it was an enjoyable hike but they all had stuff they wanted to get back to, which included Thanksgiving dinner at the townsite senior center. Three of the regulars skipped the hike entirely because of the Thanksgiving dinner. I'm a pesco-vegan so I didn't partake of the dinner. Anyway, all that I would have eaten was the green beans.
After they all turned around, I continued alone on the South Perimeter Trail to its intersection with FR2997 and took the right fork to a dead end that overlooks Valle Canyon. I could see the Perimeter Trail below.
Just for something different, I was tempted to take the cleared fire line back to the Perimeter Trail but instead I explored the left fork of FR2997. I saw two big party sites where people couldn't be bothered to haul out what they brought in. I've picked up trash in the national forest before and it's discouraging because almost as soon as you clean it, it's trashed again. I didn't have any trash bags so all I did was tsk, tsk, tsk.
Near the despoiled area, I found a stout stick. It still has most of the bark and I need to saw off the split bottom and trim the top but it is quite sturdy. I know because I whacked it hard several times on a rock and a tree but I couldn't break it. Carrying this stout stick, I will be a menace to any bear or mountain lion that tries to accost me!
Makes me wonder, though, when I didn't even hear the bicyclist behind me today until he called out that he would pass on my left, if I'd even be aware of a predatory animal trying to sneak up on me. The bicyclist was very considerate but even so, I involuntarily startled and gasped. I was surely relieved he wasn't a mountain lion!
I look around and behind often when I'm hiking by myself. Just yesterday, on the sewer treatment plant road, I spied two deer watching me from the woods. It looked like they were planning to stand there unnoticed but when I stopped to peer at them, they skedaddled!
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