June Hikes - Pinhead Peak and Tenaja Falls

Jim had scheduled a week and two days off in the middle of June so we could go on a family vacation after school got out. We decided to stay home (COVID and all). Jim gave back a couple of the vacation days but kept the others. He worked on the new room, and we did a couple of hikes.

Pinhead Peak is a 1.5-mile out-and-back with a typical Southern California chaparral landscape. It was fine, but we probably don't need to go back. We probably would've enjoyed it a little more on a less hot-and-sunny day.

It's horse country out there. We saw a couple of beautiful horses at the bottom of the hill, and I took the girls to try to see them. They ended up being less accessible than two others that were hanging out right by where we parked. The owner of the latter two was super nice and offered to let the girls sit on one of the horses for a picture.

The other hike we did was Tenaja Falls in Murrieta, a 1.4-mile round trip out-and-back. We were trying to keep these hikes easy and pleasant for the kids. 

There were tons of this plant at the bottom of the hill around the river:

Jim thought it was poison oak, and we tried to stay away from it. We went back and forth through that area a bunch of times looking for the trail (and, on the way back down, trying to figure out where we had crossed the river), so I was sure we were all going to get it bad.

The end of the hike is a little waterfall with a freezing little pool. One lady waded in before we did. Other than that, no one else got in while we were there. Wusses.

We didn't have swimsuits, so the littles made Jim take them in nudie-style.

Ever wanted me to go in with her. She took her off shirt; I went fully clothed.

Goosey even went all the way under with me.

The girls have learned our motto: Swim in every body of water.

After our dip, we hung out on the rocks, dried in the sun, and snacked. We enjoyed this tiny, camouflaged frog. 

We went along the side of the cliff a little bit to get a peek of the river as it continued down the hill. Then we hiked out. Ever's and my wet clothes kept us nice and cool. The girls and I got a couple-minute head start on Jim, and he never caught us. Tiny ran the entire way down. We couldn't keep up. At the top, I let a group of three young women go by (probably college-age) thinking they'd be faster than we were, but Tiny kept running and catching up to them, nipping at their heels. We had to pass them, and then we stayed ahead the whole way. I tasked Ever with keeping Tiny in view. I told her to yell at Tiny and make her stop and wait if she got far enough ahead that Ever was going to lose sight of her. Sometimes they stopped in the shade until we approached, but then they took off again. Tiny fell once or twice, but she just kept going. Ever said Tiny told her, "I used to be so slow, but when I run, I get energy, and I go faster." We were wandering around by the river at the bottom of the hill trying to figure out where to cross when Jim finally joined us. He said he was worried when he never saw us; he kept thinking I had somehow taken a wrong turn. 

A couple of us got teeny rashes after that, but they weren't bad or very itchy. Mine was just a little patch above my wrist. I can't imagine it was from the poison oak (and I actually still have it a month and a half later, so that's weird), but in any case, we lucked out. It was a nice little jaunt.