On the 1st, Kathy did her exercise class & we went to MD visit in La Quinta, where doc said Kathy had some kind of lymphoma & needed more tests to figure out which one. Jef got his cell phone re-enabled while there.

On the 2nd, back to work a long day at the office. Kathy started prep for colonoscopy following day.

On the 3rd, Jef took Kathy & doggies to SD where Kathy got colonoscopy. We dined at Banbu Sushi this evening & spent the night in Santee.

Sunrise this morning

On the 4th, drove to Escondido for another MD appointment & did a lot of shopping in Ramona before driving home. Kathy tripped & fell on our carport while unloading groceries this evening & believes she may have broken her R knee again.

On the 5th, Kathy was much worse, so Jef went to get wheelchair, walker & raised toilet seat.

On the 6th, Kathy pretty much slept all day. She was briefly awake in the morning & planned to call 911 around noon to get her to SD hospital, but at 1pm, after awakening her, she said she'd like to sleep more first and wound up sleeping until about 9am the next morning.

On the 7th, Kathy was feeling better after sleeping for about 20 hours straight, so arranged for an MD appt with x-ray this afternoon. Jef went in to office briefly.

Sunrise this morning - it later became a cloudy drizzly day

So far out only xmas decorations are by the driveway entrance

360° panorama

Kathy sleeping with her broken leg propped up on the wheelchair

Mostly cloudy all day

On the 8th, took it easy at home - may have driven in to work for a bit - Kathy still mostly bedbound.

On the 9th, Jef came in a worked a few hours at the office while Kathy stayed home. Pam came over before he left for the office with a care package - we had her homemade soup for dinner that night.

Sunrise panorama

Mountains are rosy behind house

We got enough rain to wet the ground for a good part of an hour today

Layers of complex clouds looking north

On the 10th, Jef again drove to the office, but observed Kathy walk 100' with the walker after getting home.

Panorama of looming sunset this afternoon - we got some colour, but not clear to coast, so nothing great

Kathy walking with her knee stabilizer - halfway thru her 100' walk this afternoon

On the 11th, Jef walked to the office for the first time in weeks - 56 minutes - and uploaded more pix to this page and did some work. While Jef was at the office, Kathy took her wheelchair outside, and called to say she was trapped, so Jef walked back home the short way to rescue her.

Running hot tub seems to be costing us 500kwh/month

Cutting thru Borrego County Park on way home this day

Got Kathy out of the house and we drove her wheelchair around the circle with the doggies

Kathy did some self-propulsion, but her arm was getting sore

Abbreviated contrail by setting sun - looks like north of the sun that the sky is dry, so no contrail

On the 12th, Kathy & Jef hung out at home all day. Jef did some caulk repair, wrapped a few presents.

Handheld shot of some planetary alignment - forgot which planets

Outside temp got just below 40°F this morning

On the 13th, found out we had a patient in office & no aide, so drove in to work for that patient, who had waited 10 minutes.

Sunrise this morning

On the 14th, Jef went to office, but no aide did, so gym patient waited & left. Jef did some work at the office.

Sun got under cloud cover early this morning, but often it was cloudy this day

Rainbow this morning

Dim peak under these clouds is a mile high peak in the Buck Range, which I have never climbed

We had a fair amount of sun this day

Double rainbow - top one is fairly faint

On the 15th, Jef drove Kathy to Morgans (to get out of her prison cell of a bedroom for a while) and then drove to Ramona, picking up an xmas tree and some groceries. After arriving home, drove to Morgans and had a nice dinner there (chili & salad).

Winds the previous night wreaked havoc with our backyard furniture

Sitting down to eat at the Morgans

Morgans had this fancy nativity set-up that was made in Israel

On the 16th, spent about 3 hours at office with 4 gym patients and Miguel as the aide. Then drove to physical with MD who had not put in orders for proper blood tests, so scheduled those for next year.

This was the coolest morning this week

Sunrise - contrail clouds were nice all day & even had a nice sunset, but no more pix taken after this one on this busy day

Low sun, long shadow at WestStar home

Set up xmas tree this day

Little bit of a sunset this evening with full moon rising

On the 17th, packed up 2 boxes of xmas gifts to send to WA & got them mailed. Also did some work at the office.

On the 18th, managed to get under the wire as the last person in line at closing to send 3rd package up to WA.

Full moon rising this evening

On the 19th, mostly took it easy at home - wrapping some presents, putting up some xmas lights, and general clean up.

Meter still going up

Kym's meter this day

On the 20th, went to office to do work and help with 4 gym patients. Kathy & Jef trimmed the tree this afternoon.

Kathy by tree

Kathy hanging ornament

On the 21st, Kathy resumed working, seeing 3 new patients this day.

Mostly cloudy day, but a little colour was seen at sunrise this morning

Xmas tree this morning

Sky had some contrails all day

This contrail looks like a snake

On the 22nd, Kathy stayed home, but saw one home care patient while Jef did some work at the office.

On the 23rd, altho this was supposed to be a half day, Kathy wound up putting in a full day due to difficulties with 3 new patients.

Little rainbow this morning

On the 24th, a rainy Xmas eve. Made a few trips to town to xmas shop & get provisions for Xmas dinner the following day.

Heavy rain during the night continued at times during this morning - some of the plants we put out in back yard to be watered can be seen in this panorama - also Black Bart charging cameraman

We moved plants out to be naturally watered and it was drizzling despite this brief appearance of the sun

With over 1/2" of rain, several puddles formed in our driveway

Full double rainbow this morning

With water drops on my lens, I was unable to make a good panorama out of several pix, but this shows most of rainbow with water drops hitting our "cement pond"

Rainbow's northermost extent

A fainter rainbow later in the day

Kathy pulling car out of the garage for the 1st of several trips to town this afternoon

One stop was Hector & Lupita's. We dropped off an xmas present & they offered us hospitality including letting us take home tamales & beans

Crepuscular rays near sunset at the Center Market

Some sunset colour looking from Village Liquor

Jef & Kathy by tree after depositing presents under it

Presents under the tree

On the 25th, we spent the afternoon cooking: prime rib roast, stringbean casserole, brocolli with cheese casserole, fudge, a salad, rolls & baked potatoes. Morgans came over for our fancy Xmas dinner with a fire in the fireplace, some good vino and we exchanged gifts: we got a cute doggie planter & they got a weather station.

Kathy managed to walk several hunder yards this afternoon - her first walk since breaking her knee

Pam about to open the weather station gift - our new doggie planter is in foreground(Kym had put put her new kitty planter next to it)

Kym tried to hide from camera, but got her in this panorama

After Pam succeeded in taking off wrapping paper

On the 26th, walked to the office to update these pix and do a little work.

Sunrise this morning

Meter still heading north

Dusting of snow on Toro Peak taken from high point of walk to work

Heading home from the office

Guest house meter

On the 27th, returned to work a short day at the office, but Kathy wound up working over 8 hours for only 2 patients.

Glitchy spliced panorama of contrails in high contrast sky this day

Nice clouds looking towards post office

On the 28th, another short day at the office.

Christmas lites lining driveway at dusk this morning

Panorama of cool clouds this day

Starting of sunset colour, but no more than this, as it was not clear to the coast

On the 29th, Kathy came down ill with shortness of breath and vomitting, so cancelled a full day at the office. Jef went in & worked a few hours, however.

Yet another day with cool clouds

Had to pump up front tire on Jeep, as it was nearly flat - put rag under pump, as I didn't want to pump sand into tire

On the 30th, drove Kathy to Escondido MD appt, then to get Covid booster & shop in Ramona. Kathy was "not all there", so had to shepard her thru these tasks. Had a problem with a defective gas pump leaving Ramona - no outlet for pressure, so gas just backed up. Went to another gas station to fill up tank.

On the 31st, Kathy still ill in bed mostly. Jef drove white Jeep to town to fix slow leak and replace 2 tires. Walked to/from office while this was taken care of, and did some work there. Too tired to stay up to Borrego midnite - we were both in bed at 6:30pm.

Kathy was still short of breath & 88% Oxygen saturation is fairly low, but her cough was finally gone this evening - this was taken just after Borrego midnite, which we slept thru

On the 1st, back to work a long day at the office.

Mostly cloudy day today

Turned out to be a great sunset

Note Kathy & Clark viewing sunset at left of this panorama

On the 2nd, Kathy was sick, so cancelled a medium busy day at the office. Jef drove to SD in Kathy's car to see MD and do some shopping. Jef used the radar cruise control to see what possible problems there might be on the country roads. One thing, is if you're following cars into a stop sign, you gotta remember to stop when there are no cars in front of you. Another thing is to be wary of the speed setting when going around curves, because 1) car(s) in front might take curve too fast, and 2) when car goes beyond curve and is out of radar range, cruise control will try to get up to speed setting - accelerating into curve.

Jef was at Scripps and they still congest the parking lot because of Covid testing there, but this time wasn't bad

On the 3rd, cancelled Kathy's exercise class, as she was better, but still not 100%. Jef went to office and did some work.

On the 4th, back to work a fairly busy day at the office.

On the 5th, a medium busy day at the office.

Kathy watches as Brad installed new top for treatment table this evening

On the 6th, Kathy drove Jef to her MD visit, which was a fiasco with the "mean office manager there" who penalized her and the patient she was helping with name calling and a 2 hour wait. Did some shopping before heading to Big Rock where Jef hosted poker with Hank, Brian, Craig & Ken. Jef lost 1.5.

Fall colours near Warner stage stop

Kathy's MD office in Escondido

Hank showing off his 7 card straight!

Poker

Hank helping Kathy set up her bluetooth in car

On the 7th, Jef did some shopping & then took Kathy on 1 mile walk. Kathy wasn't doing too well, so walk was abbreviated. Jef drove & did some shopping on way home.

Screen room this morning

Panorama with cool clouds and 2 Kathys at Rancho Fanita trailhead

This is a splice of 2 vertical panoramas showing how this section of trail has been cleaned up and trees planted - also note the airplane towing a Coors Lite banner as these advertising planes frequently take off from Brown Field between Santee & El Cajon

Advert heading to the beaches

Panorama of spruced up trail - to the left the trail snippet ending at Big Rock Park & to the right, behind Kathy is trail to Mesa Rd

Getting closer to Mesa

360° panorama

Sun highlighting seeds atop these plants, which might be an invasive species

Vertical panorama

State of house when we left - Hector was going to do yardwork in a day or 2, so didn't do too much work while there

On the 8th, back to work a very busy day at the office.

Jef finally cleared the garage enuff for Kathy to park her new car there

On the 9th, a medium busy day at the office.

Sunset after work this day

On the 10th, before Kathy went to her exercise class & 2 home cares, Charles called and informed us of a main waterline leak at the Sewanee house. Jef went over to evaluate it and got water turned off to that section before driving to the office to catch up on some work.

Noticed Hector did NOT finish roofing the carport, and at least one storm had hit it

Charles said runoff was about 8" deep. Looks like my diversion worked

Hector had repainted in the back patio...

...and in the carport

This tree branch had recently fallen

I need to replace this cracked elbow

On the 11th, a busy day at the office.

On the 12th, Jef drove to dentist in SD, got roofing supplies at Lowes in Santee, did some shopping including buying a Thanksgiving turkey in Ramona, and spent a few hours at work.

On the 13th, Jef did some work at the office. Kathy took it easy at home.

On the 14th, Kathy was hurting all day, so mostly stayed in bed. Jef took it easy.

On the 15th, Kathy screwed up on her sleep meds & so was a zombie all day, so cancelled a full day at the office. Jef drove in and did some work at the office.

Kathy "Sleep cooking"

Kathy, in her zombie condition, apparently turned on water full blast and forgot about it. Jef discovered this lake with a river flowing out the back gate & turned it off

On the 16th, back to work a busy day at the office.

Panorama of early morning - mostly cloudy today, but sun getting under clouds to illuminate mountains

Evening panorama at the office this day

On the 17th, Kathy did exercise class & took patient to MD. Jef started walking to work & turned around after 1 mile due to fatigue(so 2 mile 40 minute walk) & later drove to office to catch up on work. This night, SDG&E blacked out the valley for 8 hours, so Jef & Kathy prepped with other lighting.

Due to upcomming power outage, we made a fire this evening, but went to bed before the outage occurred

On the 18th, Back to work a light day at the office.

Noticed contrails at sunrise this morning, and as here, they stayed with us all day

On the 19th, another long day at the office.

Start of lunar eclipse around 1 am this morning

Another contrail day

Contrail evolved to more significant clouds during the day

Clouds over the library

Contrail stayed all the way to a nice sunset

Mia in her cave this evening

On the 20th, pretty much took it easy all day at home.

Reworked this photo from 10/15/2015 today

Reworked pic from 3/24/2017

Reworked pic from 3/24/2017

On the 21st, took it easy most of the day, but worked a couple hours at the office in the afternoon.

Kites being flown from the art park

On the 22nd, back to work a long day at the office.

Some clouds at sunset this evening

Moonlit silver linings of clouds this evening

On the 23rd, another long day at the office.

Somewhat cloudy day

On the 24th, Kathy did her exercise class and saw 3 patients at the office before Jef & Kathy drove to clinic to get our flu shots. As SDG&E said they might cut power to Borrego all day Thanksgiving, we prepared and cooked a turkey with dressing this evening, which we would bring to John's potluck the next day.

On the 25th, we packed up and drove over to John's, who had determined we would dine in Pinyon Wash. We took 2 vehicles over there, set up camp, went on a little hike, built a fire, had Thanksgiving dinner and hung around the fire into darkness before driving back to John's (we had taken Joe in our car, who with Jef, Kathy, John, Charles, Kerilee & Dave was one of our 7-person dinner party).

Packing up at John's

Setting up first shade thing

After setting up 2nd shade thing - first time for it - John just wanted to see if everything worked, as we didn't really need shade with such a low sun

This jumble of boulders proved too difficult for Kerilee & Kathy, who had short legs - Dave wound up pulling each of them up on a different route

After the boulder jumble, hiking was pretty easy

David, Kathy, Kerilee & Charles

Shortly after this, Jef bugged out early, calculating a round trip hike of 1.5 miles - the other 4 went another half mile

John tasked Jef to build the fire, and with help from John & Joe, we succeeded

John & Joe sitting around our just-built fire just as we heard the other hikers returning

Kathy & Kerilee with surprised expressions after lifting John's trailer cover during table-setting stage of dinner

Panorama of our little camp

Joe got the festivities going by doling out champagne in actual glasses!

Screwed up panorama - John with a scowling expression for the photographer

Starting food prep

Only picture of Jef, who has his dinner doled out

Starting dinner at table with Kathy, Joe, John, Dave, Kerilee & Charles

Joe brought this big pumpkin pie with whipped cream

Kathy still fiddling with dinner by the fire

Sun behind mountain, but still illuminating hill in distance(which could be Sunset Peak)

Aerial view of camp from top of big boulder

Good to have a fire, as it is now getting a little chilly

Charles was broadcasting some great relaxing classical music to a remote speaker(with super high fidelity) for the last 2 hours of the party

Hanging out until the firewood is exhausted drinking the final beverage - an apple spiced toddy was provided by Kerilee for this

On the 26th, we finished the 2nd installment of Thanksgiving dinner - greenbean casserole, mashed potatoes & gravy, and had Kym over for Black Friday dinner.

On the 27th, took it easy most of the day at home before going to see some of John's art at the BAI and stopped by to say hi to John, who was cleaning out his chuck-wagon trailer with Charles. Then we then went over to the Morgans for a really nice dinner & we played a few games of Mexican Train afterwards.

Soup part of awesome meal cooked for us by Pam

Playing Mexican Train

On the 28th, took it easy all day at home. Started wrapping a few gifts and putting up a few xmas decorations.

On the 29th, back to work a long day at the office. Hank & Veronica stopped by to visit at the office for a little bit before continuing on to lunch and sight-seeing.

On the 30th, another long day at the office.

New dishwasher arrived, but old one wasn't hauled off as Jef hadn't finished uninstalling old one until after delivery early this morning

After being cloudless for a few days, finally got a little sunset colour this evening

On the 1st, a short day at the office made shorter by half the patients cancelling.

On the 2nd, Jef walked to the office and did some work. Kathy drove Pam to SD to do some shopping & have a nice lunch.

Before sunrise this morning

This rabbit stood still as it thought I couldn't see it

Sun poking up

Among projects in guest bathroom, replacing medicine cabinet was one. Here is what wall (built around 1947) looks like inside

Wispy clouds this day as I walked to the office

Near high point of hike

Still have wispy clouds on walk home a few hours later

On the 3rd, mostly took it easy at home. Jef did some projects in guest bathroom installing medicine cabinet, new shower curtain & rod, and a new towel rack. Walked doggies around circle around sunset.

Kathy with doggies

Kathy was curious about this ocotillo-like plant

Little sunset colour

Previous cloud seemed to grow while we talked to neighbor Bob who was "walking" his dog with his golf cart

On the 4th, back to work, but found out no water pressure due to major main water line leak in the Mall 2 days prior. Visited Pam before heading to Ramona for some shopping and stopped by PCT and did 5 mile hike around sunset before heading home.

Sunrise this morning

While driving to PCT, noticed strange clouds which seemed to be interlaced with smoke

Kathy on PCT with these flowers blooming about 1 1/2 miles up trail

We turned around near where the trail entered this valley

Cercocarpus seeds - we picked one and watched it helicopter slowly to the ground

Panorama with anti-crepuscular rays above Kathy's head on hike back to car

The sun poked thru a hole in the clouds and illuminated to hills and mountains to the north of us

This 180° panorama shows both crepuscular and anti-crepuscular rays

Anti-crepuscular rays are faded, but crepuscular rays are very bright here

At the top of the ridge before dropping into our valley of origin

Sun setting toward San Diego - we were over a mile from the car here and it was fairly dark when we arrived at car at 7pm - we had noticed lightning & thunder both to the south(Cuyamaca) and west (San Diego) and there was some big T-storms around us

On the 5th, back to work a very long, busy day at the office.

Sunrise this morning

Clouds building over mountains mid-day

Windstorm previous night had blown over this big paloverde near Kendalls in Mall parking lot

Threatening storm - rain in mountains, but not in Borrego

On the 6th, Kathy went to Sr. Center to teach her exercise class. We had one patient in office before heading to Rancho Mirage for MD appointment. After appt, Jef got Kathy's old phone set up with T-Mobile.

Weird clouds this day

Lots of contrails

On the 7th, a very long day at the office. Completed paperwork and wired funds to purchase lot in Westport.

Sunrise this morning

Turned out to be another cloudy day

On the 8th, another full day at the office.

Sunrise this morning

Sunset this evening

On the 9th, Kathy drove Jef to her MD appt in Escondido. Did a 3 miles 1 1/2 hour hike up Clevenger Canyon trail, did some shopping in Ramona, before driving home.

Jef was late for sunrise pic this morning, but clouds were still pretty neat

Kathy at start of Clevenger hike

Not far before turning around after gaining about 500' elevation

We turned around at this burned out sign

Panorama at turn around point

About halfway down - note the fall colours in some of the chaparral

On the 10th, Jef got up early an met Miguel at Village Trailhead, starting hike at 7:27am. Did a total of about 5.4 miles with 2000' elevation gain/loss up Villager Ridge. A couple of descending backpackers passed us when we were heading up and said they had just camped at Rabbit last night. Jef was wiped out & had trouble finishing hike due to running low on salts(skipped breakfast & only had a quart of gookenaid for hike that he shared with Miguel). Jef helped Kathy make canneloni & a salad for dinner with Pam this evening.

Miguel after we connected with main trail

View looking back after ascending switchbacks

Jef trailed Miguel the whole way up

Panorama at 2nd break spot

Looking back down trail after reaching first level spot on ridge

Miguel leading

Jef trailing

Miguel waiting for Jef to catch up

Miguel & Jef at our turnaround point (we decided to turn around at about 10am after climbing 2000')

Passed this nice garden area on way down

Miguel spotted this water cache under an ocotillo - a fast hiker who passed us while we were going up had mentioned he was caching water

Sleeping circles on another level spot

Cool looking marble (or perhaps alabaster)

We constructed the temple cairn, which had fallen down - putting 3 levels - as we stopped on way down to put on our 3rd level, jef felt faint & had a lot of trouble after this, but made it back to the car

On the 11th, back to work a long (and WINDY!)day at the office.

Strong winds this afternoon at the Mall

On the 12th, another long day at the office.

Devastation in back yard after prior day's windstorm

A couple of moderately big branches came down in front yard

On the 13th, got the day off. Jef walked to the office. Kathy drove us to Pam's where Jef readjusted irrigation system & replaced a toilet valve. Holley & Alvero came over and we sat around, talked & had dinner before they had to drive back to Huntington Park.

Meter seems to have gone north despite nice weather

Holley & Alvero brought this fancy flower arrangement for Kathy (belated b'day gift)

We adjourned to back yard to cook burgers

While Kathy flipped burgers, we hung out & talked. Kym also joined us for a while

Burgers (also brought by Holley & Alvero) were giants, but good!

We then adjourned to firepit

Kathy, the pyro!

Nice evening - slightly cool in the 60s - but fire made it nicer

Panorama

Filled up Jeep on way home, as it was running low

On the 14th, back to work a long day at the office.

On the 15th, another long day at the office.

Nice weather this month

On the 16th, mostly took it easy at home.

On the 17th, Jef & Kathy went on a hike this afternoon on the Wilson Trail. Kathy's back was bothering her, due to a stormfront coming in, so we only hiked 4.27 miles, but we did do about 700' vertical.

Breakfast for Jef - last hamburger from Holley & Alvero's visit 4 days prior

About 1 1/2 miles into hike Kathy had trouble standing upright - this is the position her body wants to be in

Her most successful stretch to help with back issues is the squat

Kathy under the mistletoe

Kathy at the high point of our previous hike, but this time looking east

Somebody had put "teeth" in this rock's "mouth"

Kathy pushed on past the 2 mile mark

We made it to this viewport, the high point of our hike at about 4250' elevation, 300' about our starting point. We turned around and went back to car from here

Kathy doing a lean back stretch - this wasn't so successful today

Kathy got a couple of hiking sticks to help keep her upright

Nice light!

Panorama with manzanita bush on left(sun behind it) and Kathy hiking ahead on the right

On the 18th, another long day at the office.

Sunrise this morning

Got cloudy today - panorama at PO

Clouds clearing around sunset in this 360° panorama taken in the middle of Palm Canyon Drive - white car is Kathy

On the 19th, Jef walked to the office(in 53.5 minutes) after Kathy took Pam to MD in El Centro. Jef walked home(in 56 minutes). Pam did not get seen by pain MD due to high BP & had acute tummy pain and nausea on drive home. Kathy stayed with her for a couple hours, and was about to leave, but checked BP before doing so. It was so high, she called 911 and paramedics tested her and it was decided to life-flight her to SD. Pam was released that nite after BP was gotten back under control. She stayed at her sister's house so she could contact her MD following day.

Somehow meter still heading north

Walking home at low peak

View from way up high on this clear day

Paramedics evaluating Pam

Preparing to take Pam to airport for a helicopter ride to SD

On the 20th, a slow day at the office with only 2 patients and 2 cancellations.

Another contrail day

Moonrise this evening

On the 21st, another busy day made easier with cancellations at the office.

Stinky cactus flowers starting to bloom

Kym's meter

Fritata sandwich for lunch today

Contrail clouds lasted all day today

On the 22nd, a moderately busy day at the office with some cancellations. Went over to pool party at Wermer's this evening.

Kathy & Jef sat behind the "band"

View from other side of pool

Gizmo is green at end of guitar & lyrics on his laptop

Gizmo is red

Gizmo yellow

Title: "Keep your hands to yourself"

Our section of the audience

On the 23rd, Jef walked to office before rendezvousing with Kathy at Circle to see Jim & Ann get inducted as honorary co-mayors of Borrego. We hung out with Wermer's clan while listening to live music for about 3 hours before going home, cleaning up, and going to reunion dinner at the Legion.

Meter still going NORTH?

Panorama of clouds about midday

View from pass - Borrego Days happening at the circle

Getting closer to festivities

And closer still

Cars are even parked along Country Club Drive

View from first little peak

Kathy at right, while Ann accepts being co-honorary-mayor

Andy (center) passing on the torch to the Wermers. Ann is already holding the only traffic signal in Borrego

Miss Borrego & princesses at left & Jim at right

Jim holding signal

First band - "Sound of my voice", a Linda Ronstadt tribute band - girl looks really young - probably a teenager

Wermer encampment

Panorama from Wermer encampment - Melissa, Rob, Pam & Kathy in foreground at left, bandstand behind Calif flag, and beer garden at right

Pam, Jef & Kathy

A diversion for Wermers was this giant Jenga set

Note the orange T-shirts to the right, "The De Anza Villains" - their group drove bicycles in the unofficial parade behind the fire truck kickoff of Borrego Days earlier

Next band starting

Kathy made Jef dress up for reuunion dinner

Dennis Teter(class of '68), Jef(class of '71) & Ken Teter(class of '69) at the Legion

On the 24th, met John, Dave & Kara Lee(sp?) at John's place & we drove up to 3rd crossing in Coyote Creek. We hung out a bit (and saw the Wermer's clan ascending to Collins Valley) & had red beers, before heading up on a walk to Santa Catarina Spring overlook, which has a nice sign now. Jef decided to do the loop alone. After hitting heavy brush within a mile of the cars, he decided to push on in the creek, but was stopped by exhaustion pushing thru the thick foliage, and after making no progress for about half an hour, pushed to side of canyon, going the needed 50' in 15 minutes. Before reaching the edge, Dave was calling from nearby, as a search and rescue operation had been prematurely initiated. Jef talked with him across the canyon and they raced back. Jef got to the car in 20 minutes, completing a 3 1/2 hour hike, but with numerous cuts. Ranger Schearer was there to make sure Jef was okay and got info for a report.

John, Kerilee & Dave waiting for us at 3rd Xing

Ornery horseman in rear - this is just after woman's horse rolled over her - but she said she was okay

Horsemen heading back to the corral

Kathy by pictograph/mortero rock at 3rd Xing

Kathy heading up bypass road

Kerilee hiking WITH A MASK??? View of Santa Catarina Spring - Jef opted to hike solo in a loop, connecting with Lower Willows Trail

Jef ran into the morass of vegetation just a few minutes later and had to go over to road to go around the spring area

Field of windmill flowers

Panorama of Santa Catarina Spring looking south

Chinchweed

As soon as Lower Willows trail descended into the creekbed, no trace of it was seen on the rest of the hike

Creek was very weak at this point

Blooming sandpaper plant

Getting closer to oasis

Snake tracks crossing creek

Creek getting stronger and vegetation getting nearer

This grassy plant on the right might be an invasive reed

Even tho the way was blocked, this was easy to get thru

Animal track -- racoon?

Creekbed getting more cluttered

Panorama looking up and down the old creekbed I am in

Vegetation is now blocking me in all directions - I was going to cut across this field of 4' tall yellow flowers, but skirted it because of the bees

No pictures while I was in this mess, but after a few hundred yards, travel was impossible - I was in an area of dense 10' tall cattails and did not see a way thru the massive patch of alders, so after an hour of little progress, started pushing to side of canyon. Just after starting, Dave called out and I answered several times in my 15 minute journey to go 50' to the canyon edge. After reaching it, took this panorama. The left circle is where I got stuck, and the right circle is Dave on the lower part of the Lower Willows Trail

After a 20 minute hike on the canyon slope traversing 1/2 mile, a tired and scratched up Jef got back to the car. Kerilee had requested Ranger Brittany find me, and she was the one who sent Dave up the trail. John photographed Jef walking back and was pissed enough that he took so long that he got it in the next paper with a slanderous remark that Jef made a stupid mistake and got lost. Jef was never lost and was happy with the stupid mistakes he made on this hike, as he learned a lot of what an interesting place it is.

Shortly after getting back and having a bloody mary, John's group bugged out

Kathy & Jef hung out another hour and talked with this group from Long Beach & Victorville who had found this bow that someone had whittled and left at this campsite

Jef's legs after his hike

On the 25th, back to work a very easy day at the office.

Cool clouds this day

There was a chance we got rain this day, but it stopped at the mountains and left us the wind

Late afternoon at home

On the 26th, a moderately busy day at the office.

No more clouds or wind for a number of days starting this day

On the 27th, Jef walked to the office, Kathy did her exercise class & treated a wound when a patient called in with an emergency before doing a zoom MD meeting and seeing a home care patient. Power went off for 1 1/2 hours midday today.

Jef midway on walk to work - the power to the valley was off for the entire hike, and about half an hour after he reached the office

Meter still going up - maybe from hot tub

On the 28th, back to work a long day at the office, sufferring 2 long power outages from SDG&E.

No clouds again this morning

On the 29th, a fairly short day at the office with the last 2 patients cancelling - finishing at 6pm.

On the 30th, after taking it easy most of the day, drove up the hill and hiked Wilson Trail all the way to the end and back. Due to a late start, just before 3, and Kathy's back fatigue, it took us 4.25 hours to do this 8.7 mile (1240' ascent/descent) hike and we hiked the last mile in the dark.

2.5 miles into Wilson hike, beyond our last turn around point - this rock escaped from Stonehenge and wound up here!

Around 3 miles into hike, a burned out juniper along the trail

Trail's end at a great viewpoint where we can see all of Borrego

Roadrunner Club can be seen behind Kathy

Panorama showing the entire valley

This rock looks like a chick emerging from an egg

We bypassed Wilson Summit, as we were short on daylight, but it was probably a 20 minute detour to the top of this hill - Kathy at right

Kathy swinging from Pinyon tree killed in a fire, one of 3 fires over the past 18 years - as this is day before Halloween and it was getting dark, brings to mind "A Night on Bald Mountain"

Sunset colours starting

Wilson Trail used to be a dirt road

Wilson Summit from about a mile from trails end - Kathy at right

Note the dead burned pinyon on the summit

Just before sunset, Kathy's back fatigue got pretty bad 2.5 miles from the car, so Jef found these 2 walking sticks for her

A challenging stitch of 3 photos eliminating the usual contrast limitations when looking towards the sun - photo with Kathy had sky washed out, and photos of sky had Kathy invisible in a coal mine

Turned out to be an awesome sunset

Kathy walking into sunset

Noticed more lights in the distance towards OW - perhaps lots of campers for Halloween weekend

On the 31st, skipped doing anything and stayed home all Halloween. Jef replaced 2 switches & a sconce.