We had three Moms and Babes on the hike as well as one little spunky doggie. After getting gear and babes situated, Alis, Sia, and I hit the trail about 11AM. The trail followed the stream, heading up, with a few small foot bridges crossing the gully. Hailey and Seth peacefully enjoyed the trek, Teresa fussed and complained. After moving Teresa from a back carry to a sling carry, Teresa quieted slightly.

The Moms trekked onwards and upwards. The trail was shaded, mainly by madrone and bay. We stopped occasionally for a breather and to enjoy the stream, but with the ascent and falling water, conversation level was light. Upon reaching Contour Trail, the going got easierand we could converse, identify native plants, and hear Teresa's fussiness more easily. After parallelling the stream for a while, the trail turned away into manzanita.

We chose this spot for a lunch break, moms and babes. Teresa announced the reason for her fussiness by doing one of those charming diaper blowouts! We never get blowouts, I mean 99.99% of the time no problems, so the delicate little lady decides to really let one fly when we're on a hike? without facilities? Without a fresh cover (we cloth diaper)? Without a change of clothes? (all those were back at the car) Argh! So, keeping in mind the prevalance of poison oak, I somehow managed to change her super-poopy diaper with her balanced on my lap. Teresa fit snugly into one of Hailey's diapers (little point to putting a fresh cloth on with the poopy cover!) and then had to proceed the rest of the hike in only the diaper as her outfit was POOPED. Maybe we'll use 'sposies on hikes.

But back to the hike! We continued on our way spotting wildflowers in bloom and pretty groves of trees. We reached the final junction about 1/2 mile from the cars and briefly considered a spur trip as we were enjoying our day, but the shade cover was a little less and with the fair maiden in only a diaper, it seemed prudent to get her back to clothing and waylay any sunburn.

So ~2.5 hours after we started up, we were back down. Happy, a little sweaty, and pleased with our adventure. It was agreed this was a great hike - we'll do it again sometime; it's nice to have a almost 100% shaded hiking trail.