Janka is either trying to kill me or pay me back for something smart I said. That’s what I thought as I listened to my breath escaping my lungs just to be sucked back in twice as jarringly. She was standing slightly above me on the slight incline enjoying the sun, and asking if I was ok.
Am I ok?…Of course I am ok. I couldn’t yell…didn’t have the energy.
The day started like any other lazy Saturday, lying in bed, not wanting to get up. The phone rang and it was Dave. He and Mary were going hiking and they wanted to know if Janka and I wanted to join them. Since Janka and I had just finished a lovers quarrel and she has been hinting at us starting to go hiking again I figured I should say yes. We agreed to meet between 10 and 10:30. It was only around 10 after 8 so Janka figured she would rest a little more. At 9:15 Dave called to say that he had a client at 10 so we would meet at 11:30. This game went on and on and it was after 1:30 when we met Dave and Mary to head to the trail.
Janka and I brought two bottles of fresh squeezed juice, Dave had a camel pack of water, a few bottles of water and a couple of pieces of fruit. These would be needed as the sun was high in the sky and we had started much later than I think any of us would have liked. We arrived to the parking lot for the trail head about 2:15 and begin walking along the access path. Dave spotted a trailhead and suggested we follow it down. Coming in, I noticed the sign warning of poison oak and carefully tried to identify any in our path. The scenery was calming, the mountains, surrounding the canyon provided a sense of shelter against the previous week’s stresses. As we made our way forward, we were embraced by complete silence, silence that you can find only when you are deep within the nature. Occasionally a bird would sing or a lizard would run across our path.
The descent into the canyon felt gradual and when the trail opened up into a shallow pool we felt we had stumbled upon a local hidden treasure. The pool was complete with sunfish, a waterfall, as well as an at the time unidentified gardener snake. After playing in the pool for awhile and drying off we headed back. Things where easy at first, that is until we began ascending out of the canyon. Everyone seemed perfectly fine except for me 
( I was out of juice and occasionally gasping for air. Oh why oh why wouldn’t Janka go on ahead so I could sit down and catch my breath. After grabbing a bottle of water from Dave I began to realize I would be fine.
All in all it was a beautiful hike. I would say no more than 3 miles roundtrip. ENJOY!