Sunny day... for a change!

After a week of mostly rain and mud, today turned out to be a jewel. It was sunny most of the day, warm and most of all... dry! I decided to try and ride my bike up to this big old Juniper tree that they have dated and identified by name. The trail guide I have been using all week says this trail is used by lots of mountain bikers and I could see why. It's almost totally uphill from the start, but the many switchbacks make it mostly a gentle grade and very rideable. I ran into a few hikers on the ride and one other biker but there weren't too many people up there.

The tree in question is indeed a huge one and the plaque at the tree says it dates about 3200 years old but my trail guide says 1200 years so who knows? For me it was more about the ride on a really nice day than it was to see another old juniper tree. Over the years as a firefighter I have seen many huge old junipers mostly on fire from a lightning strike so this tree was not all that special to me. The best thing though was that it was a beautiful day and when I got back to my truck I just wasn't ready to call it a day so I headed up canyon to the Temple Fork Sawmill site.