Dark Flying Doggy

Well Saturday came and an order to squeeze one ride in on this trip with my good friend Brent it meant an early one. My alarm was set for 4:20am but I found my eyes open at 2am, congested and groggy I could not get back to sleep. I went for the ride anyway on a little 3 hours of sleep, I didn't feel that tired so no big deal. Was very very excited to be getting up higher in elevation, I love the high mountains, especially in the fall. I met with my homie at the base of the canyon and headed up and by 5:45 we were chugging up the mountain in complete darkness. The darkness of the morning was long, the deer eyes were plenty, and the air was chilly! As we climbed higher it warmed, I kept expecting some sort of daylight to come as we rode but for an entire hour there was no sign. There began a scent of elk, then we heard bugles, we had to stop and listen for a minute, I absolutely love that noise they make for some reason. Continued on and the leaves got thick in color, only illuminated by my headlight and nothing else I knew I was missing out. Whats that thing moving, oh it's a procupine! He began to move off the trail and I got closer and he turned around to battle possibly so I cowardly got out of his space and looked on further away. Getting into the aspens as sun finally began to dimly light the sky, I could see the surroundings finally. Such a long climb to the top, but always rewarded with a long downhill ride. At the top sun graced the hillside and as we rode through firey Maple and Oak leaves it was dreamy. It all went by too fast, got a few pics but none could fully interpret the moment. I was happy, my homie was happpy, while our kids were sleeping we were living it up, what crazy people. It all ended too soon, a mighty fine week, 100 mile week with 85 in Utah. Thank you wife :)