Santa Ana River Trail and Aspen Grove, September 21, 2008

Today my dad took me for a hike along the Santa Ana River Trail. Here's a description of the trail from summitpost.org: The Aspen Grove trail, located within the 59,000 acre San Gorgonio Wilderness, offers the Southern California hiker a unique opportunity: visit the only grove of Quaking Aspen (Populus Tremuloides) between the Sierra Nevada and Baja California. The remnant grove follows the banks of Fish Creek, and is a popular destination during Autumn. A typical year sees the leaves reaching their peak golden-yellow color during October, offering a pleasant addition to the dominantly evergreen foliage found at similar elevations throughout Southern California.

Do you see me hiding in the foliage? Don't my eyeballs look like little headlights?

Isn't this a pretty place? I love splashing in the water!

Here I am resting on a rock. Look at my muddy paws!

The Aspens are the yellow-gold colored trees. Aren't they pretty?

Hurry up Dad! Let's keep hiking!

My Dad says that in a month or so these Aspens will be completely golden-yellow. I can't wait to come back and see the Aspen trees again!

That was our hike for this week. My dad is going to go firewood cutting next Tuesday and he's not sure if I'm big enough to go along on that trip. (He doesn't want me to get into trouble while he's busy cutting the firewood.) Maybe we'll get to go on another hike next Sunday... stay tuned!