October in the alpine! 

It’s so not cold.  Could have used some cold water to throw on these two, though.

Sheep Rocks is a pair of minor summits to the north of Apex.  It’s about a 25km ride, with a partial out and back portion.  It’s a nice mellow adventure, perfect for a nice Cranksgiving gang ride. 

Yup, that’s ice on the creek there, but it was surprisingly warm out.  I was down to shorts and a t-shirt in no time.

Here we are, at almost 7000’ asl, and it’s plenty warm and dry.  The driest summer in `07 years of record keeping around here, and this is the payoff.

A short punchy climb later and we were on the summit.  You can see the Seven Summits in the background, and the Okanagan valley below.  I hear there’s a trail down to the lake from up here, maybe I’ll have to try to find that one…

So, this is kind of weird.  I didn’t know that ladybugs hibernated up here, but there were literally thousands of them in little nooks and crannies on the summit.

No time to marvel at the wonders of nature though.  We had some alpine to shred, right Steve?

and Barb…

…and Veronica…

..and the always glum Susan.

It’s about 12km from here to the bottom, mostly down hill.  I can see why everyone is all smiles.

I can also see why Steven might have trouble staying awake after.

Luckily, he woke up in time for us to crash a Thanksgiving dinner.  Veronica looks like she’s a bit nervous in this one, but then again, if you were caught in a My Little Pony fight between Chevy and Dorothy, wouldn’t you be a bit scared?