South Perimeter Trail with WRSC Group

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!

OMG Muffins

OMG muffins as in oh-my-god, what was I thinking.  They are kind of custard-y because I didn't put enough flour in them even though the batter appeared too moist.  Oh, well...I'll eat them anyway and enjoy them because they taste good by my standards but not likely by anyone else's!  My husband says that I make the house smell good but he won't eat the muffins because he says I don't make them sweet enough.  This is true - they are not sweet enough for his taste buds! I tell him to put some jam on them for sweetness.  I put either applesauce, all-fruit spread or honey.  A little bit of nut butter makes for a rich taste and increases the nutrient value.

Here's everything that went into the muffins (but this doesn't constitute a recipe):

1 3/4 quart old fashioned oatmeal (processed into a coarse meal), 1-25 ounce jar Eden unsweetened applesauce, fresh zest of 3 oranges, 1 T vanilla extract, powdered cardamom, nutmeg and cinnamon (didn't measure these three), 1 T powdered ginger, almond milk made from 1 3/4 cups medjool dates and 2 cups raw almonds and water, 1 1/2 bags frozen, partially thawed cranberries, 1 quart frozen, mostly thawed pumpkin.

Since the cranberries were partially frozen, they probably contributed extra liquid to the batter (when it already had an excess!)  Also, the juice from the cranberries caused the edges of some of the muffins to stick and char.  That's OK because even the charred ones taste good to me!