Busy!
We hiked the open space around Goat Peak from Garden Road. Our goal today was to reach the intersection of the trail where it turned due south to the tunnel under Scripps Poway Parkway and a bushwhack route to Goat Peak, about 2 miles from our trailhead.
Our trail ran past the trailhead and as we parked, we were passed by three horses and riders. They galloped up the hill that we were about to take and we didn’t expect to see them again. Brandy was off her 23-foot leash, so we were hiking at a somewhat fast pace as I didn’t need to stop for her “sniffs” and exploration. When we got to the old, burned-out house with the chimney still standing, we caught up with the riders who had slowed after just a short gallop. Brandy has become so acclimated to horses that she just ignored them as we passed them by.
We continued on, taking the side trail that we knew would eventually rejoin the main (old truck) trail. This single-track trail was considerably overgrown, but was also an access to two other trails, also overgrown, that led steeply up to ridges.
Although we have hiked this area numerous times over the last two years, we hadn’t hiked it since last May and we found that the vegetation was substantially overgrowing all the trails. It seems as though there was a growth spurt after the last spring rains.
We rejoined the main trail and continued navigating through the overgrowth, passing the point that we had seen the rattlesnake on our last hike in May. We looked for it, but it was long gone! At that time I hadn’t let Brandy off-leash and had a few minutes before put Brandy on her 6-foot leash due to my concern of rattlesnakes. The trail was a single-track about a foot wide and the rattlesnake “buzzed” just off the trail’s edge between Brandy, in the lead, and me. We both froze, then I saw it slowly retreating while rattling. Realizing that we were now safe, I quickly grabbed my camera and took a picture of the rattlesnake. Brandy seems to be smart about snakes and I’ve never known her to intentionally approach one. I’m now comfortable putting her off-leash with respect to rattlesnakes, but a little concerned about her reaction to coyotes as we’ve never had an off-leash coyote encounter. On-leash, she’s very aggressive towards coyotes, even though she’s about 2/3 their weight.
We continued to our turn-around point where we stopped for a snack. When I reached for Brandy’s snack in the bottom pocket of my shorts, I found a small tick quickly climbing up right by the pocket. It must have just got on me, judging by the speed at which it was climbing. I brushed it off, looked for others but found none. This is the first year that Brandy and I have gotten ticks and every time it’s been in low-lying areas. I checked Brandy and found none.
We finished our snack and returned taking alternate routes where we could. We passed the junction where our earlier trail joined the main trail and about 50 yards away was another hiker with a large dog. I looked at Brandy to see her reaction and she looked but kept on walking. I then looked back toward the hiker and abruptly ran into Brandy who had just stopped. Fortunately, it was light contact. She cowered a little, looked at me, determined that it was an accident and then continued on her way.
We saw two more horses and riders across the valley on the side trail, the same one that the hiker was on. We’ve hiked this area many times and I can recall seeing just one horse and rider in all those times. Today, we saw 5 horses with riders, a hiker and a dog. Unbelievable busy! I hike this area because I “never” see anyone.