Last night I was gearing up for a session in the Pain Lab and I got a ring from my friend Ed. The sun was finally out, and he was biting at the bit to get out. His better half Laurie had already been out in the North Hills (Waterworks Hill) and was reporting a “Carpet of flowers” and “bitterroots everywhere”.  I just could not imagine bitterroot flowers everywhere. From my experience in the last 4 years it was a lucky day to even see two bitterroot flowers.

So I bailed on my workout with full plans to get the hike over with (there I go again) and then get back home to the Pain Lab to do some core. I would then move my hill intervals to this morning. As of this writing, I have done my intervals but still no Pain Lab. That happens upon the completion of this post.

So I showed up at their house and we jetted over to the Orange Street Trail Head and started my 10K loop backwards. We searched high and low for a carpet of wild flowers, but all we saw were noxious weeds. They were everywhere and playing havoc with my sinuses.

We did what I call the “City Side” and over to the “Land Fill Side”. Still no flowers. Soon we forgot what we were looking for and conversed about important topics such as f’ed up educational practices and how one trains for the Butte 100 (Butte 50 for Ed).

Then it was over to the “Homestead” and up the Waterworks Ridge. Down to the fence line and “Rocky Side”. Still no flowers, but thee day was gorgeous, and I was wondering about something that was written on the side of a birdhouse on one fence. I can’t remember the name, like birthed or poppedpoutathoticus or bunch-of-birds-were-born-here.  Ed said it meant that a bunch of birds were born here.

So then we hiked down into the hidden valley, still no wild flowers, although at a previous time it looked like the Balsam Root Arrow Leaf (Whatever) had been out but were now dead. Then it happened.