Morning Has Broken

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY

Work required me to get out and hike early in the morning today which I really did not want to do. I went hiking late yesterday afternoon and wanted to rest a bit and I wanted to sleep in and rest a bit. Oh well.

Since my time is limited I had to go near my home in La Quinta today. With the insanely hot temperatures we've been having I'd prefer to head to the mountains whenever possible but on days like today that's not feasible. So I'm off half asleep trying to beat the sun.

As I get ready to leave the house Kahlua knows something is up. She's got her nose up against the glass wondering what's up and why on earth I am out of bed at this time of morning. I am planning on going beyond the No Dog signs this morning so I'm not going to take her. I make sure I don't bring any hiking gear into the open so she doesn't know what I'm really doing.

I get to the top of the cove and find it still shrouded in shadow. The temperature is in the 80s but that's not bad considering the highs were in the 120 range yesterday.

As I head up to my hiking destination the sun starts to cover the earth in front of me. I run through this section for fear that I'll melt if the sun hits me.

I get to this hill at the top of the Cove area and climb whatever hills that await me.

The trails back here are substantial and are in existence completely from use. No one built this trail. It is here solely from people hiking this way.

The best thing about hiking in this area is that whether in the morning or the evening you can find an area with the shade needed to hike without fear of dying from the heat.

I come to the end of the line, which is a line where the sun crosses my path.

As I head back to the parking area I come to a place where the sun has overtaken the trail and I am forced to actually walk in the sun for almost 30 or 40 seconds. Thankfully, I have enough water and sunscreen to survive. I don't know how I'll be able to make it through the rest of the hot weather but at least for this morning I made it out alive. Now I'm going back to bed.