...Rode My Trail Bike to the Levee but the Levee Was Dry...

So fry, fry under the afternoon sky,

Road my trail bike to the levee but the levee was dry.

Those good old boys were riding horses and bikes,

Singing, "This will be a day that I like,

This will be a day that like!"

Okay, songwriters we are not, but we still had a day that we liked, riding our trail bikes to the levee and back.  Usery Mountain Recreation Area has miles of multiuse desert trails, and we decided to peddle around the perimeter - about 11 miles.  On the southern end of our route, we bicycled along the Channel Path (so named because it runs along a flood control channel), next to the Levee Trail (so named because it runs atop a flood control levee).  You can't see it from the photo of Dave below, but there is a huge housing development just behind the levee.

But we get ahead of ourselves.

Our ride started on the Blevens Trail, which was just off the Area 10 Trailhead.  We were taking our customary trailhead photo, when a woman on a horse came quietly up behind us and photobombed our selfie:

We got even, however, because, as she and a friend and their kids rode off down the trail, we got very incriminating photos of their butts:

But let us return to our story.

Just off the Blevens Trail, we found the Moon Rocks Trail, so named because it's littered with large, round rocks (actually probably granite - neither moon rocks nor meteorites nor volcanic, but who really cares?).  It made for some tough cycling, but Kathy was the first to master the art of guiding her trail bike across the moon rocks:

Cholla lurked everywhere on this ride.  Just after lunch, David was leading when Kathy screamed out in pain.  She yelled, "I've been CHOLLAED!"  Some sneaky little cholla had hitched a ride on her bike tire and rode it around until it could leap over onto her exposed ankle.  She was not a happy camper.  David pulled out the desert cactus comb and combed that cholla right out of her hair.  It hurt just as much when it came out as when it came in.  Kathy screamed again.  Here is a very photogenic (but very dangerous) chainfruit cholla, vividly demonstrating why it's called "chainfruit":

David loves his desert plants.  Here, Kathy caught him loving up a beautiful golden tressed palo verde.  He didn't dally long because there were many jealous bees also lingering and enjoying her favors:

We made it to the far end of our circuit and rested in the shade of a wash while we devoured our PB&J sandwiches (downed with generous swigs of clear, cool water):

Our ride back around the west and north edges of the perimeter was uneventful (except for the disastrous cholla incident).  We did come upon the Cat Peaks - two cute little peaks with trails all over them.  We rode by them, however, on this day.

For whatever crazy reason, we had decided to bicycle DOWN to the trailhead a mile or so from our campground.  So, once our trail bike ride was finished, we still had a one mile ride UPHILL on a hot asphalt road, to get back to our campsite.  That's okay, we cooled off and cleaned off with a nice campground shower.