I needed to get away. My last days of Spring break. I chose Caliente Peak at Carrizo Plain. I hoped to photograph a peak display of wildflowers, and do my 17 mile run to/from Caliente Peak along the ridge of the Caliente Range. The day began with a 1 hour sleep. That was all I got that night and day; then a drive up to UCSC to get video/GPS time-stamped observations of the occultation of a 12th magnitude star by the asteroid Regina - a success! Got home at 3:45am, quickly unpacked the astronomy gear, packed the running gear and food, and drove the 250 miles to Carrizo Plain and the dirt wide spot at the trail head. The weather was perfect, and the first full weekend of Spring drew more people than usual. Every camp spot along the road up to the ridge was taken. I felt good, running. But slowed to a power-hike / jog as the miles clicked by. The trail was pretty empty, as always... but at the old ranch, two mountain bikers whizzed past me. I had the rest of the way to the peak to myself, until getting to the peak, then I saw the mountain bikers returning, and at the peak I met a small group of Russian hikers who arrived. It was nice to see these fine people, but at the same time, I regretted that I did not have the entire experience only to myself - which I'd looked forward to. Alas, no flowers. The drought. And no snakes, nor horned lizards. My pace has kept well this year. As I write this in early April, I'm on pace for another record year, near 1100 miles. After this 17 miler, I did have a couple of weeks of recovery and some hip psoas soreness, but that seems to be over now. Very good!
