I know it's hard to see, two small dots completely engulfed in black. Thus is the limitations of my iPhone camera. But, truth be known, I don't know of any camera that could have done much better. There wasn't a lot of light out at 6:20am, a week ago this morning.
The two dots are from two flashlights--most likely headlamps from the way they moved. I left my house to go to work and those two dots caught my attention. The people with the dots were a couple of hundred feet up the side of the mountain on which we live. From time to time, we can see lights from people on the mountain at night--especially, since it gets dark earlier and earlier now. But, seeing lights so early in the morning, that's what we call, rare.
I guess there's some advantages to hiking several hundred feet up the hill in December. I doubt they'll run into many rattlesnakes this time of year. There have been, however, a number of reported cougar sightings in these mountains. I guess it's never truly safe on the mountain, or anywhere, for that matter.
The people with the flashlights must be go-getters. They must find some rush in getting up hours before the general population to risk death by hiking up the side of a mountain in December. And, to some degree, I applaud them for that. It's not something I'll be doing anytime soon, but they have my respect.
I noticed the lights because they're never there. I wonder if I'll see them again.
