It may be hot now, but fall is just around the corner

You know fall isn’t far away when the days shorten, leaves begin to fall on the lawn and the styles in department stores change drastically. My Sycamore trees are already beginning the process a lot of us dread.

The horses are beginning to shed summer hair, gearing up for their shaggy winter wardrobe.

This is a precarious time of year, prime time for wildland fires. It seems each year the fire danger heightens with tinder dry vegetation along most of our roadways.

Preseason pro football is already being aired on television.

Yep, it may still be summer but fall is just around the bend.

One thing we should all be happy about is the presence of rain that usually comes with the season. A little precipitation is good for the land, slowing down any chance of a North State disaster.

I thoroughly enjoy the smell of that first rain. I remember one year when a fire threatened a friend’s home and I helped put the water hoses on the roof. When the water was turned on the sprinklers began to wet the roof. It suddenly smelled like that first rain – another phenomenon – water mixing with dust.

Like many in the north state must be wishing for, I too am looking forward to that first rain of the season to squelch the fire danger. Besides the devastation fires create, they also put the damper on camping trips. I love a campfire, but when the fire danger level chart shows RED with high fire danger posted on all campground signage, any thought of a campfire is squelched. That’s when you dig out the old gas camp stove and place it on a table away from vegetation.

A trip to the coast is definitely in order, but I doubt if I will be heading that way anytime soon. The mountains are beckoning me to enjoy the crisp early autumn morning air I recently experienced in Whitmore at the Kilarc Reservoir. That kind of coolness encourages one to indulge in a hot cup of coffee from the ol’ camp stove. But this recent trip to Kilarc was a day trip. As the sun rose in the sky, the soda from the ice chest did the trick although it only reached somewhere in the mid 80 degrees until after lunch.

I had brought my collapsible fishing pole, fish net and fishing vest outfitted with the gourmet bait that’s already been proven to entice the most discriminating riparian palette.

At least three fine-sized trout thought my colorful bait was good enough for them.

Am I going to disclose this secret? I have to say absolutely not. Everyone has their specialty when it comes to fishing. Deep dark secrets as simple as bait are kept under wraps as much as those secret hideaway fishing holes on a mountain stream are kept from the rest of the world. Kilarc Reservoir, however, is one of those well-know family fishing get-a-ways. I hope they can preserve it for generations to come, but the big guns have other plans as the controversy continues.

Back home after the fishing trip, I thought the following weekend would make for a perfect early morning horseback ride on a new trail I had recently discovered.

This trail is no big secret, but I was amazed that the BLM actually created it – or recreated it. Many trails in our area have been blazed by early day horsemen and cattlemen, so some of the new routes are on or near old trails.

Because, remember, it is still summer with three digit temperatures still threatening us, it’s wise to start early. We were in the saddle about 8:15 in the morning and returned about 9:45 before the heat really got going.

It was a nice ride on perfect terrain other than the Manzanita brush and scrub oak trees. I prefer to ride in higher country – where tall timber like Ponderosa pines, white firs and cedar trees grow.

But this was close to home, just a few miles out Clear Creek Road. I’m told the trail was to be extended all the way to the Whiskeytown area and maybe even beyond. But with government spending cuts, I’m sure it won’t happen in my lifetime.

Well, October is not too far ahead now and I love heading to the mountains where Aspen trees are turning color in the fall. There are some great places to ride and once the thermometer drops a bit you don’t have to leave so early in the morning.

If you get started by 6 a.m. and arrive at 7:30-8 a.m. in the mountains, it still gives you a good day’s riding time and still get home by dark.