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... did a "loner" ride (best as always) up on the ridge today - ran in to the property owner (biker himself) on the way up.... "boy, that blows that they dropped all those trees "en' route"... his reply - "I had 'em remove em all"...

...open again... see last week for last weeks conditions...

... am now amped... gotta' do the old "Sandy Flats' loop!!...

... been a while (too long)... wet and muddy today... too much fun, though, to stop and take pictures - wanted to "push it" a bit... 

... old and out of shape... a bit slow.... but still "crankin'"... nobody knows me better than me...

... they been doin' a lot of "timbering" since last "visit" - opened up some new trail and "vista"... no complaints... which led to this "discovery" on the "way out"...

... found this new (to us - looked old, however) side trail... 

... some badass "track-and-a-half" downhill... lookin' "thru the dashboard"...

... steep and slippery...

... pictures don't do it justice... OK - walked a short steep section... still slipped on my ass... nearing the "creek bottom" here...

... a few hundred foot "bushwack" past the creek crossing to the "main road" - that's OK... don't know what's up with the "purple logs"... tried to correct it... didn't work... who cares...

... viewing back - trail descends from the "high point" on the ridge line (I think)...

... Ha! - got back "on the road" and had this little 'Wooly Bear Caterpillar' (look familiar?) waiting - was setting right in the tire tracks - set him aside in the brush for safety... natures "Winter Weatherman"... judge for yourself....

 

 

... edit 11/10... the more I got to lookin' at that caterpillar the more I wondered if it was indeed a 'Wooly Bear', considering the red banding... turns out that it is actually the caterpillar of an 'Eyed Tiger Moth' and is related to the 'Wooly Bear'... pretty cool fact on the moth... "they have long been known to produce ultrasonic sounds... sounds the moths emit interfere with the echolocation system of bats... like a fighter plane jamming a missle's radar signal... this tactic greatly reduces the bat's successful rate of moth capture... since the attack sequence of a bat lasts less than a second, the moths have to react fast... fortunately, the moths can produce up to 450 clicks in one-tenth of a second...