Gettin back on the trail...

I finally was given clearance to go back out for a hike again! It's been almost 2 months, and I was missing it! (there is something many of you never thought you'd hear me say!) Our small group from Chuck's church had a hike planned...we didn't know that it was going to be in the 90s with massive fire danger around here. But, the hike we had planned was super shady, so we decided to go for it anyways. We got to the trailhead and found it closed due to fire danger (about once a year they shut down the mountains around here to keep people out of potential fire areas, so no one accidentally does something to start one--that's how dry it is here, even kicking a rock could cause it to strike another rock and start a spark, that's all it would take to make an entire hillside go up in flames). But, we weren't to be deterred! We decided to try another trail that went down into a canyon which was open and actually pretty crowded. It was a beautiful hike, I am definitely going to be sore tomorrow, not having exercised in over a month, but it felt SO good to be outside and moving around again! There were 9 of us that went out, and had a great time fellowshipping and enjoying the creation. Here are a few photos of our day at Chantry Flats:

From the road on the way up we had a view of one of the LA valleys full of smoke. I'm actually not sure which fire this is from, something east of us. Our sky was perfectly clear and the air felt fresh, but when we got back to Pasadena tonight it smelled like a bonfire even though the fires aren't near us.The waterfall at the end of the Chantry Flats trail

Susan and CandiDo you see that color?? That would be the color YELLOW on the trees! Leaves around here never change color!!The beautiful flowers I came home to on Friday. I had left a card taped to Chuck's front door on Thurs. night when he was at the beach with the guys, and I came home Friday to flowers...he said he had to "get me back." I love that when we talk about "getting one another back" it's things like sweet notes and flowers!