Well, so much for a hike a week.  After taking three weeks off so Chris could heal from a bad case of poison oak that became infected (a situation that landed him in the hospital for a couple of days and required two weeks off work), we chose to get back in the saddle by visiting the Wind Wolves Preserve, a hike that we had originally scheduled for two weeks earlier. The 97,000-acre preserve at the extreme south end of the San Joaquin Valley is owned and managed by The Wildlands Conservancy, and a relatively small segment of the property around the San Emigdio Canyon area is open to the public. There are several trails serving the canyon and adjacent points, some extending into Los Padres Forest to the south and interconnecting with the trail network there. We really had no plan upon arriving at the trailhead, though we had notionally discussed following the main north-south trail up the canyon some four miles to a reflection pond. Eight round-trip miles after three weeks off sounded like a little too much, so we chose instead to tackle the Mountain View Trail, a short mile-long walk with 400′ of elevation gain to a hilltop that offers views of both the valley to the north and the mountains to the south. The time off was evident as we huffed and puffed our way to the top, but the view was very nice despite the typical valley haze. After heading back down the trail, we decided to head east on a cutoff trail to reach the main trail along San Emigdio Creek. The grade was so gentle and the trail so inviting that we just kept moving south without much thought as to where we might decide to turn around –  it was very easy walking, and the only thing remotely unpleasant was the heat that became real noticeable whenever the sun broke through the patchy clouds. As we meandered our way along the creek, we eventually emerged from intermittent tree cover to open grasslands – the canyon in this area is particularly striking, almost glacial in its structure with a broad, flat floor and steeply sloping walls. In the distance we could see large groves of trees, which we correctly understood to be “The Willows,” a wetlands area at which there were restrooms and a picnic area. Our trail looped around to the east side of the area, re-crossing the creek several times and running through multiple marshy areas where water seemed to be randomly seeping up through the ground without regard for established creekbeds. We danced our way through the muddiest spots and eventually gained higher ground at the southeast corner of The Willows, where a picnic table had been conveniently placed. We stopped here for about ten minutes to regroup, deciding to head west on a connecting trail to El Camino Viejo, the original road through San Emigdio Ranch (what was once the largest private landholding in California, one of the huge Spanish land grants made in the 1840’s, the majority of which now constitutes Wind Wolves Preserve) that is now a designated bike trail. We followed the road northward, thinking back to the slog through Islay Creek Canyon on March 9th, although this area was definitely more scenic. Eventually, the valley floor came back into view, and we made our way back to the trailhead. We covered over six miles in total at a moving average of 3.1 mph, although we both hurt a little more than we expected to. We will definitely be back – the trailhead was just 30 minutes from our house, and we want to visit the various canyons and summits that lie deeper in the preserve.