Sweeney Ridge

I went on a birthday walk with my cousin and his family today at a place called Sweeney Ridge. My cousin lived in the vicinity as a teen and had fond memories of the area. He left for college in 1987 and hasn't been back until now. And I only recall hiking the trail with him when we were both teens. Back then there were horse stables up on the ridge. My cousin's step-mom boarded her horses there. Tasked with taking care of the horses when his parents were away, he remembers hiking the trail in order to feed and brush them. I think I 'met' the horses at some point. There were two of them and I remember one was called Smokey. My cousin and his step-mom would often go riding up along the ridge and even down around the nearby Crystal Springs reservoir. How they were allowed access to what is actually our local source of drinking water, I do not know. No one but a park ranger living near the reservoir has that sort of permission these days.

In the intervening years, Sweeney Ridge has come under the jurisdiction of the National Parks Service. What was once a sleepy trail at the end of a residential street in a fog-covered neighborhood is now a bustling walk path with an ever shortage of attendant parking spaces. 

The picture directly below shows a barely legible bit of lettering reading: FOG LINE. From this point on a yellow strip of paint down the middle of the path is meant to help keep walkers on the footway. The fog this morning was not too dense, so following the yellow line wasn't necessary, fortunately. 

Fog line, baby!

Rather cheerful-looking local flora.

A bit of (very early) berry.