Today’s Trail of Contradiction

It’s a Valentine’s day hike for us and also been hyper aware of some contradictions in this trail today.

Starting at the parking area, which is closed today and yet there’s a ranger, which I’m assuming checking the vehicles parked along the road if they have passes. I don’t get it why parking is closed while trail  is open. I should have read the post on the gate😁 to understand.

Second, too many parked cars but only encountered no more than 5 hikers. This was answered right before we reached the peak… a decent size group at the peak.

Third, the trail is so quiet, unless we started chatting, and feels very serene. And then we reached the top… i cannot hear myself think with the group ‘talking’ a little too loud in a place that suppose to be peaceful and enjoying the perfect weather and clear skies. We didn’t stay long, some people are just obnoxious or probably a strategy to drive people away so they can have the place for themselves.

Lastly, there are quite a few dog excrements during the 1st 2miles or so and we are already playing guessing game if those came from same dog or not. But then after the 4 corners, the trail is fragrant from some flowers blooming and the air smells so clean too, resulted from recent downpours.

Overall, it was an enjoyable hike with the nice weather. We took pictures of the colorful wildflowers that add to being enjoyable. There are 2 signs this time as well.