A hike out back

It is Pat and Maureen's last day of this visit and Pat suggested a hike close by. Maureen wisely opted to stay home and photograph birds and small mammals around the house. Dan and I usually bike this time of year, rather than hike, but it was a bit overcast so we headed out the back gate.

Poor Pat, being a flat-lander as well as a coast dweller, was being drug up the hills and we are also feeling the effects of not having been in hiking shoes for awhile. Even Emma was glad when we got home.

Still, it was nice to see the desert after the summer rains as there was lots of grass and there were still some flowers in bloom. One event of note: Emma, being ahead of us, was warned by a Mojave rattle snake (correction: a Blacktail rattlesnake - thanks, Aaron) that we gave a wide berth coming and going (photo by Pat Murphy).