Upper Las Virgines Hike with Chuy - A Photo Essay

Rene, Chuy and I went for a hike last Saturday. After a brief stop at a donut shop (for some reason I was fixated on having a donut for breakfast), we made our way to the Upper Las Virgines trail in West Hills and sat down for a breakfast of donuts and green tea. Chuy ate half of my glazed donut. We started our hike soon after, amid sunny skies but cold temperatures. It had rained the night before, meaning all the ugly gray clouds and air pollution had been burned off, leaving only beautiful blue skies and fresh air.

Chuy and Rene at the start of the hike. Check out that lovely blue sky!

Chuy running ahead to meet us on top of the hill. I love how the picture captures the lone oak tree, blue sky, dry brush, and red dog - it all looks great put together.

Close shot of Chuy - what a poser.

Chuy surveying the valley.

Posing with Chuy - notice how the oak trees on the right-hand side line the valley? There must be a stream or creek down there providing water to the trees.

Two guys posing for a picture - finally, both of them are looking at me!

Looking away and checking out other things...

We sat in this hill for about 20 minutes while Chuy roamed nearby, checking out the large oak tree and bushes and making sure that he peed everywhere he needed to. Chuy started to get bored and was sitting down when Rene started throwing rocks towards to tree; Chuy likes to chase things, so we entertained ourselves for a few minutes by watching Chuy chase rocks we were throwing around. While chasing the rocks we were throwing, Chuy found a big rock that he mistook for a turtle (remember Mr. Turtle?) and started pushing it around with his paws and trying to get it into his mouth. This lasted for about half an hour. Here's a short video of my crazy dog:

We called it a day after Chuy got tired of chasing the rock around. We started hiking down the hill when Chuy saw something shiny and bolted. We continued hiking down the hill without him, thinking he'd hear us talking but he got lost soon after and bolted downhill in the other direction after seeing other hikers (probably thinking it was us), so Rene went after him. Chuy was tired after charging up the hill full-speed to catch up with us:

Reunited and it feels so good!