pomegranate trail

Saturday, November 7, 2026

A Riverbed and A Creekbed

Yesterday we were off to a new park for the Parks Project. A bike path that runs along the river (the same river that runs at the bridge), a small "natural" looking climbing area for children and easy access to the riverbed. Additionally, there were benches and picnic tables. All of this right up our alley. It was a beautiful day in the 70's. A good day to explore.

There was a lot of wandering in the sandy river bottom, carefully avoiding Cholla Cactus plants sprinkled here and there.

It was easy to see where the water rushed through in the latest storms, leaving rivets, plants flattened and wide swaths of black iron. We each found one special rock, worth hanging onto.

It was a good day.

🥾 🥾 🥾 🥾 🥾 🥾

Today we were off to the Nature Center, where we've walked the shady trail on summer days or found pollywogs in the barely flowing creek. The bench we saw last time now has a beautiful cover, which will certainly help on those hot days. Sadly someone thought it was a good idea to carve their initials into the bench seat. How disappointing and disrespectful to the two young boy scouts that provided this memorial bench & cover for their Eagle Projects. How disrespectful to all, really.

In the shady side of the trail, we noticed a hole, but no one was home. The light in the early afternoon was amazing. I especially noticed how the trees and tops of the mountains were lit up, while so many other spaces lay in shadows.

The creek was bone dry, so we traveled further than we have in the past (no rock hopping involved). Lots of uneven path walking and scampering over rocks told their story in this old body when we got home.

I found one of those huge acorns and a hat, so I playfully left it in the fallen oak tree. A little while later we saw a young boy, his sister and their mother on the trail. He excitedly held that acorn up in the air as he bounded along the dirt path. I found another acorn, green this time and when caught up with them I shared that one with the sister. He had several hats and more acorns gathered in his shirt and then into his pockets. He was so charming...engaging and funny and so verbal. He reminded me why I enjoyed working with young children for all of those years.

In fact, we saw several people on the trail today. Folks with their dogs, families - one 3 generations, grandmother, mother and daughter...and a whole large group from USC. Every child and some of the young adults had all found some sort of 'walking stick'. There were lots of stick trails in the dirt.

It was a good day.