It took us over an hour and a half to get to the top and it was pretty steep. You can kinda tell in the pics where you can see where there are people walking way up the slope. Anywho... it was a fun time but we got home way later and were all exhausted when we got back... Sam even fell asleep in the hiking pack for the last 20 minutes or so coming down.
Aimee carried Sam up the first part of the very steep path and was having a harder time with it than she expected. So I took Sam for the rest of the assent and we still went pretty slow. We let Sam out to walk about 3/4 of the way up so we could have a snack and he wanted to walk. But when it proved to be even slower going with stops every 3 steps to pick up more rocks, we decided it was time to put him in the hiker pack and get up to the top so we could have lunch.
The top was fun and gorgeous, even with it being a little hazy. It was an awesome 270 degree view. We took some rest in the shade of the trees at the top and had lunch we brought... it was like 1:30 at this point since it had taken us 1.5 hours to make the top. It was a welcome break to have lunch. We even had a praying mantis visitor that started crawling up my leg after we started eating.
The decent was much quicker and Sam was able to actually walk a lot and just held our hands when the slope was a little too steep for him to keep his footing in the gravel. We made pretty good time but he started really slowing down and figuring he was getting tired we put him back in the hiker pack about where we had taken a snack break on the way up.
We got to a crossroads where two trails met and decided to take the slightly longer, 1 mile, trail that was much less steep compared to the way we came up, which would have been murder carrying Sam. Aimee did a great job carrying Sam all the way back down; I think she wanted to prove to herself she could do it.
There were three hawks, or maybe eagles, that flew over us almost one right after the other. I think this was the first one since the other two went over really fast and were out of sight before I could get the camera back out.
This tree was pretty cool with the moss growing on it; Aimee and I both commented as we went by so I decided it warranted a picture.
And the end of the hike, where we all feel like Sam, but just can't show it yet.
Anywho... when we got to the bottom about 3:30, our neighbor, John, from down the street was just getting there with his dog Turbo and his Son, Scott, and his dog Taser. It was kinda strange to see someone familiar up there.
2 comments:
That sounds like some climb; makes one tired just reading about it! You had a beautiful day and evidently got a good work-out with the trail you took. So glad you had a good time. The view is spectactular!
What a great hike. Bob and Aimee have always hiked a lot, and sometimes I have joined. It is a great tradition of exercise and exploration.
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