The End of the YCC

No, I didn't break down and push any of them off a mountain (not that I didn't think about it at times). It only means that Thursday, the 17th, marked the end of my leading this pack of obstreperous teenagers around by their nose rings and attempting to get any kind of decent work out of them. This year was especially difficult, as none of them seemed at all interested in the work, and there was no shifting them. I don't really get it, but then I'm not a teenager anymore. As Bob said, "The times they are a-changin'." Oh, well. At any rate, Thursday also marked the re-opening of the Precipice Trail after the work to restore the earthquake damage was finished -- at least as far as the main trail and the East Face Trail were concerned -- of which my kids and I played a major part. But before all that, My crew leader Keith took us on a hike up an abandoned trail called the Cave Trail. And here's why:


A cave, of all things. I don't know if you can call it an actual cave -- it looked more like a huge fissure with a few massive connecting beams across it -- but it certainly has that cave feel to it. It was quite impressive, and very cool inside. The temperature must have gone down at least 10 degrees in there. Here we see Hazel, Gentry, Zev, Zach (with his back turned), and Gavin.


I moved in a little closer after everyone left and took this shot to show the interior a little better, without all the silly people. Nice place.


Finally, we had to move on and head on up the abandoned trail to connect with the Precipice Trail proper, famous for its outstanding and uninterrupted views of the ocean (well, okay, this view is a bit interrupted, but only for the sake of composition), thanks to at least half of it running right along sheer ledge. This one is definitely not for the faint of heart.


To give you a little better idea of what you're up against here -- and to give Zach a little "face time" -- here's Zach turning a corner on a tight ledge face after a rather long series of rungs, ladders, and rock scrambling. We were both a little done in by this time, but the end was near. The summit is only just up a ways.

After achieving the summit (no photos, for some reason), we took a well-deserved break for 10-15 minutes, then proceeded to change out all the signs on the mountain to reflect the trail system's new and improved status. As we were hiking the Park Loop Road over to the Precipice trailhead to do the final opening procedure, we were met by a couple who asked if the Precipice was going to be opened that day and did I know when? (I didn't know there had been a Press Release stating that it would be opened at noon. Nobody told me!) I assured them that that was what we were heading to do, so they followed me to the gate -- along with a dozen or more other people -- and took my photo as I ceremoniously cut the closed sign's rope, officially re-opening the trail. Since they were about to bolt onto it before I had time to put up the new sign, I gave them all a short discourse on the open and closed portions, then the stampede was on. The crew still at work on the closed portion just off one of the intersections said they didn't get any work done the whole rest of the day due to having to answer question after question from a flood of hikers. You see there? You should've gone and given blood at the end of the day like me. That'll learn ya! The YCC kids did manage to get in a few more digs at the Blood Drive, but I just kept my mouth shut and silently said my mantra: "It's all done . . . it's all done . . . it's all done . . . " and went home and dove into the fridge and had myself a couple of hard-earned beers or three. Whew! All I can say is Thank God that's over. These guys would take all the fun out of a root canal.