Watched the sunrise this morning, absolutely gorgeous! The sunrise took about an hour from the initial red dawn until the sun actually came up, it was an amazing site to watch the Bay Area wake up. I sat on the deck with a few of the other guests. Hummingbirds came out and treated us to a lovely dance as they flitted around the feeders, there were at least 20 of them! It was heavenly watching and listening to the different birds waking up, seeing them fly around and chirp. It was very calm until the sun came up then the wind started, though it was relatively gentle. Later, while I ate my breakfast on the deck I saw a guy on a mountain unicycle! I can’t imagine the kind of balance and courage (or stupidity???) you would need to ride a unicycle down a mountain road or trail.
After breakfast I did my chore, everyone who stays at the inn signs up to help out in someway, my job was to gather all the recycling and take it out to the recycling bins. That it was off on a hike, I decided to head to the Fire Lookout at the top of East Peak. It’s not a long hike, less than 2 1/2 miles and most of that is an easy grade on a fire road with incredible views, but the last 1/10 of a mile to the fire lookout is the most challenging for people with short legs like me as there are some large rocks to scramble over. I made it and was rewarded with 360 views and solitude. On my way down I found a different route, which look to be a slightly overgrown trail, but there weren’t any signs saying it couldn’t be used. It was slightly easier to get down than going over the large rocks again so I was grateful. I headed out on the Dunphy trail which circles East Peak, it’s flat and paved and less than 3/4 of a mile so accessible to most everybody, I took a turn off to check out the overlook which is a lovely spot to sit and read and have a snack. Later I headed down the Eldridge Grade to inspiration point, not sure why it’s called that because it’s basically in the middle of a whole bunch of bushes! It could very well have been named 100 years ago when the bushes were much smaller and there was actually a view. 🙂
I headed back to the inn for a much needed soak in the clawfoot bathtub. I spent the afternoon relaxing in the lounge, reading, journaling, and playing a card game I found called Where In the World? It proved how lacking my geography skills are (something I am well aware of). They need an updated set of cards as these were produced in 1985 and still showed East and West Germany!
Every evening at the inn is different, last night was very lively with pretty much all the guests hanging out together in the lounge. Tonight was much quieter, some folks stayed in their cabins, one couple sat by the fire quietly reading and sipping wine. A group of students from Cal played a card game while I ate my dinner. I headed up to bed to read, it was a warm evening so I opened my window and could see and hear a group of mountain bikers who had stopped to rest on a night ride. They were loudly discussing their dinner plans and once they got them confirmed headed down the trail. Unfortunately they took a trail that is for hikers only, I guess they assumed there would not be any hikers that late at night or they would be wearing headlamps so they could easily see them. I hope they got cited by a ranger, there’s a reason certain trails are not meant for bikes, both for the safety of those on the trails and the health of the trail environment. Finally it was time to call it a night and enjoy my last evening on the mountain for a while.