Leslie and I decided that while we were visiting Bill and Alice in Phoenix we should also visit Jeff and Debby for two or three days on our way there. Jeff and Deborah decided we should take our first hike of Spring/Summer at the San Joaquin River Gorge Special Recreation Area. (At least it was warm enough that it seemed like summer to those of us from the Pacific Northwest where the temperature has yet to reach 70 degrees so far this year.
The view of the Gorge was quite spectacular,
but the real highlight of the hike, for me, at least, was the flowers, which ranged from the delicate beauty of this Dodecatheon,
and these Cowslip
to this huge Silver Lupine, which dwarfs the Lupine we are used to seeing in the North Cascades.
That’s Leslie and Deborah on the left, showing just how big this plant was.
However, the Lupine seemed small in comparison to the Red Bud that lined both sides of the canyon.
This might not have been a very challenging hike if I were hiking it in the middle of summer, but I’ll have to admit that I was sweating on the way back up the trail and my knees were a little sore by the end of the hike.
Luckily, it was beautiful enough that I didn’t feel tired until we were almost back to the car.