ranger steve

i was going to do something else, i think, but i got going up a road that i wanted to see where it went, and clearly it went SOMEWHERE because there's a geocache hidden at the end of it.

and it's on the map as a regular honkin' road so i don't think twice about driving on it, even though it is the kind of road you would HATE on account of it's one narrow lane and you have to drive slow and careful.

and i passed the ostensible parking lot where the ranger truck was parked, because even though it was narrower and steeper it still looked like a road.

and then i got to the bottom (i had gone over some sort of ridge thingy) and there was this guy in an orange vest and he looked a lot like the ranger and i hoped i hadn't missed a sign that said i couldn't drive here but thought if he was mad, i could probably
get away with a nice apology and such but it turned out i wasn't in trouble.

turned out he's the manager of the preserve where i'm staying. has been for thirty some odd years. and we made chitchat and he made some recommendations about what to see on these mountains and where i might enjoy biking and if i only had the knees for one hike which one i should do, and we watched a loon and a beaver fishing (he thought) the same school of fish.

it's still nearly fifty degrees out, but a little breezy.