Solstice Canyon
Park July 23 2005

Hi all you
happy hikers,

Ok so most of
you seemed to have had something else to do this weekend so the group was a little
small this hike, but that didn’t stop us from having a great
time and a very good hike and workout.

News flash “Sun comes out
in Malibu for
Saturday mornings hike” Oh yeah about time we had the sun out again for
our hikes after several weeks of low clouds and cool temperatures.  Mary, Amanda, Katie, and Athena were
already waiting as I drove into the parking lot so we waited a while then
started out.

Hiking the
Sunrise Trail first we quickly climbed up past the TRW Think Tank Center then
on towards Gnome Rock. Looking back you are rewarded with a view of the Pacific
Ocean looking southwest at Catalina Island. If
you are looking for a good workout then do this trail first instead of walking
up the road to the Terrace
Falls.

Once we
arrived at the Roberts House we stopped for a few photos before heading up the
Deer Valley Loop Trail and the next leg of our hike. This part take you above
and up the stream that flows past the Roberts ruins and give you a good up hill
climb
to the next rest stop. You will follow a deer path under the trees then down to
the stream again by the old stone cabin. This is the half way point on
the Deer Valley Loop Trail and a good place to stop and eat a snack while
enjoying the stream and small waterfalls there. Finally it’s a two mile
climb to the top and a spectacular view of the Santa
Monica Bay, Catalina Island, and the surrounding area. Making our way
back down we had such a good workout already that we ended up walking down the
road back to the parking lot instead of climbing back over the Sunrise Trail once more.

On the way
back there were so many butterflies that we stopped several times along the way to photograph them. I think
we will post an album of them here along with the wild flowers as we have taken
so many pictures of them over the last eight hikes together. So email me your
favorite flower and butterfly photos and I’ll put all of them up
together.

Now one of the
funniest moments was when we decided to stop at the burned out Sycamore tree to
take a picture of everyone inside of it. So Athena, Amanda and Katie climbed in
and were getting ready to take the picture when someone yelled “There is
a snake in here!” I don’t know what was funnier watching the
expression on their faces or seeing the three of them trying to get out of the
tree at the same time. After checking it out closer it turned out to be a
baby king snake, which seemed to be more upset and scared than everyone else.
Once the snake escaped out the back we finished taking some photos and heading on
or way back to the parking lot. With no more adventures (except using the
bathroom, ugh!) we decided to skip lunch as Athena was feeling a little under
the weather and the girls had things to do that afternoon.

Last Athena
won the “Secret Word” contest we have every hike as took home some
Epson Salts. That being said we will be hiking again here next week Saturday
July 30th at 8:00am. See all of you that can make it out here.

PacificCoastHiker

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PacificCoastHikers.Com 2005

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