Saturday, October 13 was a glorious, 54 degree cool day for 7 First U hikers in the Manzanos for the fall colors of the maples. Rick Held was celebrating his birthday!

We hiked to Mosca Peak for lunch and a panoramic view to the west. The hike started on the Fourth of July Canyon Trail up the creek bed to the Cerro Blanco Trail to the Crest Trail – pretty windy here. Then down the Cerro Blanca for 1.5 mile descent to FR 55 for 1.4 mile – a “cakewalk”.

The group was in high spirits to match the energy of the bedecked woods. There seemed to be hundreds of hikers in the parking lot when we arrived but we pretty much had the trails to ourselves. We started about 10 and were back to the cars at 3:30 pm walking about a 6 mile loop.

The group: Pam Bliss, Heather Gram, Rick Held, Bob Liebman, Manuel Lopez, Kathleen Rhoad, Eliza Schmid. Thanks to Kathleen, Bob and Rick for the pictures.