Atalaya

After a wonderful morning of family breakfast, ice skating at the community center and a large and spicy plate of veggie burritos from The Shed in the Plaza, I decided to run back to the house via Atalaya Mountain.  I walked through town and up Old Santa Fe Trail east of town hoping that I would be able to successfully digest my overly large lunch.  After nearly an hour of walking, I hit the dirt and headed up Trail 174 toward the 9100' peak.  The trail climbed in and out of the trees and through some slush and ice for 3.5 miles.  I hit the peak just after 6:00 pm as the sun was starting to go down.  I admired the view to the west and hoped I would make it down the mountain and off the trail before it got too dark.  The snowy switchbacks made for some slow going at the top, but I was able to run the last couple miles to the road as I watched the sky turn a deep orange and the sun dropped below the distant western horizon.  I ran the last 3 miles back to the house in the dark on the narrow road down the hill and had to make some quick jumps over the curb and into the brush to avoid being hit by occasional oncoming cars.  I got back to the warm house full of my family just as Jordan and Jacob were putting the finishing touches on a casual late dinner that we ate while playing or watching an exciting game of Mexican Train dominoes.