It gets hot here in the desert. Not cute hawt, but I'm-going-to-die HOT. Since Tupes-Tupes and I are such delicate flowers we timed our travel to hit Smith early in the morning, but not too early because sleep, duh. By 9 am there were still plenty of spots in both lots and the lighting and temperature were perfect. The vantage point above is from a mounted bench that I commandeered for about an hour while I sipped my coffee. Off to the right, and obviously not pictured, was a small group of people obnoxiously debating camera lenses and the current state of photography. While eavesdropping (I use this term loosely because I wasn't actually trying to listen to their convo but was completely unable to tune out because it was shockingly quiet except for this trio) I did hear something about some kind of predatory juvenile birds being around and other nature-y things...so that was nice.
There were quite a few rabbits bopping about, which the dog did not give one shit about. All she did the entire day was sleep, pant, and get her lead caught on every branch, plant, or rock that we encountered. Effing brilliant.
Exhibit A: The asshole in all of her splendor. At this point, she had rolled around in countless dead things and what I assume to be urine. She then came over to where I was innocently eating my lunch and wiggled her little beagle body all over my apple and travel journal.
The picture above depicts the edge of the rock from the end of a trail near the first parking lot. What you cannot see in detail is that there are already a ton of little spider-monkey climbers all over the face of the dang thing. The people watching is fantastic. On the day we visited there was also a group of artists completing plein air compositions. If you are the adventurous type, you can climb the rock where the sport of rock climbing was birthed.
People be warned...I would not suggest swimming in the river (which let's be honest is more the size of a small creek) because it frequently has a bloom and has made others sick. If you need to bathe yourself, take a quick jaunt over to Steelhead Falls instead. If hiking in torturous conditions is your thing, by all means, hike through the trails that follow from the second lot up and around the area with full sun exposure. Tupes and I preferred to bask by the river/creek and stew in dead animal/fecal aroma. Mmmmm rabit urine. Now, if only they could truck in some water stations or something. Note: bring water dummies.
People be warned...I would not suggest swimming in the river (which let's be honest is more the size of a small creek) because it frequently has a bloom and has made others sick. If you need to bathe yourself, take a quick jaunt over to Steelhead Falls instead. If hiking in torturous conditions is your thing, by all means, hike through the trails that follow from the second lot up and around the area with full sun exposure. Tupes and I preferred to bask by the river/creek and stew in dead animal/fecal aroma. Mmmmm rabit urine. Now, if only they could truck in some water stations or something. Note: bring water dummies.