North of The Kahlua Trail

DAY TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY ONE

This morning when I woke up the temperature here was actually cooler than the weather in San Diego.

That didn't last too long.

By the time I got ready, took my son to school and came home to get my hiking gear the temperature had gone up over twenty degrees and was now eighteen degrees warmer than the 71º of San Diego. I'd hoped to get out early enough to hike in the shade on the not yet created Kahlua Trail but no luck; I got there too late.

I went to the top of the La Quinta Cove where I've been so many times this year and headed toward the hill to go to the Kahlua Trail.

But as I head toward the mountain I get a crazy idea: why not turn left at the base of the hill instead of right? So that's what I do.

We don't have to go very far and we find a trail that climbs up the hill so we decide to check it out. It's so much easier to walk on these rocky hills around here with a trail.

Besides the trail, there are a couple of rock piles that make it evident that we're not the first ones to come up this way.

The trail climbs across this rocky hillside and diminishes into nothing. I think there might be a trail here but it's not much. I figure it might just be a game trail.

At least there's a nice view from up here.

If there is a trail it really doesn't lead anywhere. We've got to drop down into this wash and it doesn't look like fun. Steep, loose, rocky slopes scare me. I slipped on one yesterday and got a little bruise on my thigh that I didn't discover until this morning.

We get down safely and Kahlua is ready to go home. Every time we go by some shade she stops to lay down. It's now 25º warmer than it is in San Diego. I'm ready for summer to end.