the wind in the trees: Devil's Chair

I am a week overdue posting this

A week ago, fiance & I (and dogs in tow) took a drive to Devil's Punchbowl to take the Devil's Chair hike.

The week before, I was skiing. On this day, it was over 80 degrees. Crazy weather in So Cal. Devil's Punchbowl in the upper desert so it was brutally warm, especially for me. And Teyla.

The first mile of the hike is on a service road and there's not a tree in site. After that, it swings around to a northern slope, providing some lower pines and a little bit of shade. There's also a creek crossing at about 1.3 miles, in which Teyla relished the fresh water. I wet my sunshade hat - knowing it'd be dry in less than 15 minutes. In retrospect, I should have brought my cool tie.

The dogs did very well except Teyla was extremely hot. Her and I have similar tolerances to heat. We watered her often, and took a break just after reaching the chair itself, on some make-shift benches in the shade. Both dogs had water, apples and Kirkland dog treats. We ate apples and Detour bars.

The trail wasn't too busy which was nice. When we reached the chair, we were alone.

After the break, Teyla seemed revived. Penelope only made it two more miles. I put her in the pack for the last two miles.
Eight round trip, but not too much of an altitude change in that mileage. I'd call it a moderate hike, only because of the distance.

See it here on Runkeeper (except Fiance forgot to take it off pause for a while, so it shows less than 8 miles)

View of the Desert from trail