While returning from my bike ride to Los Vaqueros Watershed,  I'd noticed a sign leading to Brushy Peak Regional Preserve.  Today, I decided to ride there, as it wasn't too far from my hotel.  The weather was perfect; a bright and pleasant 12 °C, perfect for biking.  I saw while making the GPS course, that it included over 200 meters of climbing, but hoped the cool weather would make it easier.  First up on the route was Frick Lake, a tiny lake, possibly man made.

It had quite a few Mallard ducks frolicking in it.

Though the road was barely a kilometer off the 580, the setting seemed totally country, with old farms and farm houses. A dog that was barking its head off ensured that I didn't stop to take any photographs. A little further down, I saw a bunch of what looked like bigger versions of the Indian Sparrow, foraging for worms, in a field. I found out later that they were white-throated Sparrows.

I also saw Mr. and Mrs. Red-winged Blackbird.

A dilapidated shed seemed to almost call out to me.

I also spotted a Loggerhead Shrike

I presently came upon the entrance and staging area of the Brushy Peak Regional Preserve.

Caught sight of what looked like Gulls or Terns, flying very high up. The zoom came in handy, but just about.

I started off on the Brushy Peak Loop Trail, which is used by hikers, bikers and horse riders alike. A prominent sign warned the trail users about the presence of Mountain Lions in the vicinity, and the mandatory dos and don'ts, should their paths cross! The only creatures on four legs that I encountered however, were these guys!

I saw a Hummingbird flit by. I tracked him/her for a while till it sat down on a faraway tree. The massive zoom on my camera however managed to bring it in sight. The size of the bird isn't easy to establish from the picture, but it was really quite small, as hummingbirds are!

The trail steepened and got more rutted and turned into a full MTB trail. The soil was also soft and crumbly, due to the rain followed by sunshine, and when I switched to higher gears, I could feel the rear wheel spin under me, failing to establish adequate traction. I decided at that point to hop off the bike and trek up, rather than risk continuing at dangerously slow speeds, particularly because it's hard to clip out in a hurry, if the need suddenly arose. The trail was breathtakingly beautiful.

I presently came across a patch which seemed like some HDR project gone crazy! The colors were so much of an explosion that I didn't even try to shoot it, as it was causing my head to spin! Here's a small portion of it though, a rock with some multicolored lichen.

After a few more twists and turns and climbing, the descent started in right earnest, and it was steep, narrow, winding and rutted, meaning I was quite low on confidence to take them. I continued walking the bike for a while, before daring to hop on. After that, I was almost constantly on the brake. At one point, when I stopped to take a picture, I tried to touch the brake disk, to check on the temperature, and I almost burned my finger! That disk was sizzling hot! Doing the slow descent, I realized how we as kids were for always told to never use the front brakes, as that's likely to cause you to flip over the bars. Growing up, we hardly ever used the front brake, unless we really needed to come to stop in a hurry. With road bikes however, the reverse is the drill. Most riders do most of the braking with the front brake and use the rear brakes only to come to a complete halt.

Before long, I was nearing the end of the loop.

A quick glance at my phone showed me that I'd taken a lot longer than I'd expected. I had to rush back in order to be able to return my rental bike before the store closed for the day. Even as I was thinking about what had been a most enjoyable afternoon, I realized that I was going to be in place to try and click a couple of pictures of the sunset, right by the roadside, on Greenville Road, before I reached my hotel. A lovely way to end a nice bike ride, I thought!

Ride route/details: http://www.strava.com/activities/233680683