Image Up Advertising & Design

We made our annual pilgrimage the to Holy Tree on the Ernie Maxwell Trail in June. Eleven faithful souls trudged up the hill toward Tahquitz Peak on a lovely late spring morning, paying homage to the arboreal symbol of nature's magnificence. The trail nestled in the Humbar Park of the San Bernardino National Forest is 2.5 miles of tree shaded studies of the life cycle of plant life in Southern California mountains. From seedlings in nurseries to cemeteries; seedlings and fallen trees populate the landscape. Large boulders landscape the slopes that were ocean floor eons ago. Although this spring has been dry, stalwart blossoms still color the sides of the trail hopeful of a summer thunderstorm. An intermittent breeze on this day rustled the foliage of the cedars, pines, manzanitas and sycamores while lizards and squirrels scurried ahead of the hikers. Bees, hummingbirds and blue jays were too busy searching lunch to interact with human trespassers. Midway on the trail, hikers who fortunately have mastered the intricacies of the traffic circles at Four Seasons, were able to successfully navigate past oncoming hikers at the trail circle without a bump or scratch. At places the trail narrows down to tiptoe width and rocks and roots keeps hips swiveling as hikers dodge and weave around them. This year Mother Nature added a new obstacle to impede the normally easy stroll up the hill — a very large fallen tree has crashed down across the trail. The tree was too large to step over and hikers had to climb up and over the trunk. The Lunch Bunch ended their hike at Gnomes Restaurant in Idyllwild. To find out where else we are hiking in 2014 call or e-mail Lynette at (951) 377-0392 or lynette.simonson@gmail.com. ~ Leonard Tavernetti 42 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | AUGUST 2014 | SPORTS & OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES Hearty Hikers L-R: Mary Liebenberg, Lynette Simonson, Mary Martin, Denise Featherstone, Christine Stephens, Jim Sein, Charlie Ledger, David Kershaw, Jerome Liebenberg, and Richard Brown at the top of the trail Above: Jim coaches Denise on raising her arms as she "Sticks" her Olympic dismount Right: The Holy Tree

• Cover