Today was amazing.
Again, the morning routine and an early afternoon departure.
I'm trying to let my knee improve for the one big hike I want to do and for the mountain biking trails Bill wants to ride, so we decided to hike to Bridal Veil Falls which is another easy, popular hike of 7 miles.
We got to the trailhead and signed in at 2:51. The trail meandered in the sun through an open meadow for the first mile or so and then began a very slow, gradual climb through a dense forest of pines.
It crossed the river a few times, and before we knew it, we could hear the sound of the waterfall in the distance.
The falls are kind of secluded and it's difficult to view them from the bottom. Naturally, we began to climb to get a closer look.
The trail, if that's what you want to call it, was ridiculously steep and made sections of the Grand Canyon's Kaibab Trail look like a cake walk.
Close to the top, the "trail" ended and you had to scramble over a rockslide area to get to the falls. This required a fair amount of balance and 3 points of contact at all times. Since it was a rockslide area, nearly every step resulted in a downward slide.
As close to the top as I was going to get, I located my perching spot...
That's me - the little pink blob in the middle of the pic.
I sat and thought about Mom. I giggled when I dug my butt in the rocks for stability, put my hands in the air and said "Look, Ma, no hands!". :)
After enjoying the view, Bill and I scrambled closer to the falls for a few shots and a goofy self portrait. It was a little chilly and we got quite wet.
Bill began to head back down and it was time to put the camera away and get my billy goat on.
Along the trail once again, we encountered a group of guys who had been backpacking for the last 3 days. We stopped for a moment to chat and then as we left, I whispered to Bill that we now needed to pick up our pace so they couldn't catch us. How embarrassing would it be to have someone with a 45 pound pack keep pace with us on the trail? Well, it's sad and embarrassing - and that's exactly what one of them did. He said he wanted to pick up his pace to spur his buddies to hike a little faster. I told him we have a friend that does that and it doesn't work at all. :)
We chatted (while all breathing a little heavy at times) about hiking and biking and dirtbikes and snowmobiles and then when we were nearly at the end, he finally caved and said he needed to rest, take some pics and wait for his buddies. It's about time! We kept our pace because I knew if we slowed, he'd catch us again (competition is my motivation to push). :) We made it back to the trailhead and signed out at 6:24. We sat at the truck and munched on some trail mix when the group came rolling out of the woods about 15 minutes later. These locals are hardcore. These guys do a lot of hardcore mountain biking in the area a few times a week and go backpacking nearly every weekend. What's the lesson here? Don't mess with the locals. :)
We came back to the campsite, showered, and listened to a sermon by Pastor Paul Chappell (www.lancasterbaptist.org) while we devoured an entire pound of pasta between the two of us. Yeah, I had worked up an appetite. The sermon was on peace. (We're listening to a series on the Fruit of the Spirit and this was number 3). He's a great speaker and I hope we can attend one or more of the services if our travels lead us to the Lancaster, CA area.
Kathleen, I think you'd really like these sermons. We all need more love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance, but sometimes, we need those special messages to get us through the really hard times, you know?
Anyway, it was a great day. I love hikes like that. Pleasant mixed with some challenge and jaw dropping scenery all around. It's amazing to me this wonderful Creation God has given us all to enjoy.
Have I mentioned I love it here? Idaho...hmmmm.
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