I wanted to get out fairly early this morning, so I decided to stick close to home and chose the bluffs near the Nimbus Dam in Fair Oaks for my hike. It’s been quite awhile since I used these trails — at least two years. Today I was pleased with my choice because I saw very few other hikers. The spring flowers are just beginning to pop out, and the weeds that will be turning brown and full of stickers are still a tender green. I wound up exploring a side trail that was new to me; and even though it eventually faded from a well-worn path to a thin deer trail and then vanished altogether, I didn’t mind. My only companions in that peaceful green canyon were the local songbirds.

California Towhee checking me out

A dry creek bed

Even with a house or two on the cliffs above me, I had plenty of quiet and solitude

Rufous-crowned Sparrow in full song