Chilli's Adventure Journal

Start: Mon, Jun 1, 2026, 12:40 PM PT Location: Truckee, CA, United States Weather: clear sky · 73°F Distance: 4.2 mi Moving time: 47m Elapsed: 59m Elevation gain: 212 ft A Monday, midday, 73°F, and Mama had apparently decided that the most reasonable thing to do was take us out into the full June sun for a proper walk. I had thoughts about this. The Sierra in summer has a particular quality to the light around noon — very bright, very committed, not especially interested in your comfort — but the air was dry and the wind was doing just enough to make it tolerable. I filed my assessment: acceptable conditions, proceed with dignity. We covered 4.2 miles at what I would describe as a civilised pace, given the elevation was nearly flat (212 feet over the whole thing — I have done more climbing getting off the couch). The trails through Truckee in June carry a lot of information: pine resin warming up, dust from the weekend's foot traffic, the faint mineral edge that comes off the granite when it bakes. I catalogued all of it. Thorough work. There was one moment — approximately 0.3 miles in — where something moved in a tree and I stopped dead and stared for a full eleven seconds. I am not going to say what I suspected. I will say my suspicions were not confirmed. This time. By the back half, Mama had settled into a decent rhythm and I had made my peace with the leash, as one does. It was not a snow day. It was not skijoring. It was a solid midsummer midday walk in the mountains I live in, which, on reflection, is not nothing. 7/10 paws — the route was good, the temperature was a degree or two past ideal, and whatever was in that tree owes me an explanation.