December 3rd, my youngest son’s 18th birthday, I took a nice ten mile hike up Black Star Canyon, to one of my favorite easy to get to, out in the open, secret places. What’s the occasion? Nice cold weather was the occasion. It was time for me to come out of hibernation. I am awake! What a great hike to celebrate awakening. After a day like that I wondered (out loud) why I’m not out there every single day! I get that much peace from the trip. I felt so full of joy at one point that I burst into a spontaneous run. I stopped myself from that silliness pretty quickly though since it’s been a while. I’m not practiced – last thing I need is a face plant. My arms only recently recovered from the last fall in December 2021. (Excuses, excuses).

I love Black Star Canyon. Yes, the base is well travelled and in places vandalized with spray paint. That’s sad. And yes, it’s mainly all truck trail (with a few single track turn offs available here and there). Once you make that turn 2.5 miles in and start the climb, there’s so much to see up there, even close to the road. Black Star Canyon is a beautiful place with a huge local history (which explains the legends of its haunting). On that note, I do find Black Star Canyon haunting, but not by ghosts.