With reports of predicted heavy thunderstorms, this group of eight hikers decided to omit the final hike section to Crater Ridge (located on the S-side of the peak pictured below).  Instead we did a longish loop around the base False Peak to come out near a favored picnic spot, where we had lunch around 11 am.   We opted to come down via the Colorado Canyon where we expected to find plenty of water, as the locals had reported to that heavy rains had fallen the night/morning before.  We were not disappointed in the waterfalls cascading along a trailside stream!One challenge with the seasonal changes to shrubbery, was finding the trail on the initial part of the descent.  It is easy to follow going up, but a hidden turn-off fooled us the last two times we came down here this year in the reverse direction.  On those two occasions, instinct dictated that we get off a false trail leading to a humungous hidden cliff, and we resorted to scrambling down steep terrain (aka bundu-bashing) to meet up with the trail lower down the hillside.  Forewarned this time, we did some careful reconnoitering and found the hidden right-turn, marked it with a sequence of rock cairns and proceeded down without incident.

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Our looping detour around False Peak brought us out of an oak forest and heavy shrubs (probably Vara Blanca, flowerless at this time), a short distance above Balancing Boulder and Picnic Rock.  Both present a fearsome drop on the far side of the pictures below.

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Rocio, the youngest of the group, pushing her luck - with Mike camera-ready.

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A delightful cluster of Angelwing (Begonia).  The unopened bud is completely heart-shaped.

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Quite a rocky scramble, with insecure footing, down to the Colorado Canyon trail.  But we made it down with no falling indignities, to meet up with the canyon stream.

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More sibling streams tumble down to cross the trail and join the family in the main stream.

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The reason we elected to take this trail today.A ~ 4 foot cascade, enticingly pretty.

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I learned today that several of the ladies hiking in this group, have now been inspired to attend a class on identifying mushrooms.It crossed my mind to wonder what prompted this - curiosity or something more morbid? Note to self: always be nice to these hikers!   Exercise extreme caution and tact!And I spend my waking moments trying to remember if I have consistently followed this practice in the past?

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On this mountain range, there are many varieties of Sage - mostly exhibiting flowers in shades of blue.

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This huge slab of rock, one of a group of three, tumbled down some aeons ago from the Cathedral Peaks above (behind the the photographer).Going up this canyon, it has become ritual to take refreshment pause here.  It is affectionately known as The Pebble.After an arduous hike, on this return leg a humorous wag sent me this picture and entitled it Reclining Rock !For the picture and title credit, I will let you guess which one of the eight is not in the picture!

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