So this past weekend I convinced a friend to go on a hike with me. We packed up our things, and drove about an hour out of town, down a dirt road, to the trailhead. The hike isn't a long one, only 2 miles round trip, but it is incredibly steep at time. A rise of 944 feet over a mile.
It was a gorgeous day, cloudless, with a slight wind, and a whole lot of sun! After a short while we shed our sweaters and stopped often. As spring hasn't hit this far north yet, the majority of the trees were bare (except the coniferous ones, obviously). There were quite a few trees with stark white leaves hanging, which hadn't fallen in the fall, and over the winter had been reduced to parchment.
Just about halfway up the hill there were large boulders, deceiving us into thinking we were much closer to the top then we actually were! These enormous formations reminded me of those we often see in Allegany State Park (Thunder Rocks). From our perspective we had no idea how far we had gone, nor how much farther we needed to climb.
We knew we were getting close to the top when we saw snow. Yes. The weather may have been a comfortable 55ยบ, but up on top of the mountain there was still quite a bit of snow in places! The last stretch was very difficult, but we were rejuvenated when the roof of the firetower came into view.
Reaching the apex, we decided to climb the firetower, though I'm not sure how I was so brave!! The structure seemed sturdy enough, but the railings only came up to my thigh, and below that we were protected by.... chicken wire. With every step up the narrow stairs the tower shook, which is incredibly disconcerting when you're already high up! For the last set of stairs you have to duck/crawl to sneak up to the observation deck.
But the view from the top... WOW!! I tried to capture the view with my camera, though goodness knows a two-dimensional rendering could never do the three-dimensional panorama justice.
We spent a bit of time just laying on the rocks in the sun, before our hike down. Towards the end of the hike I could feel my legs shaking from the exercise. Let's just say ice packs have been my knees best friends for the past few days!! It was a great hike, and I'm looking for another adventure soon.
On to the great news!! I've accepted a position to work in the Grand Canyon this summer!! I'm thoroughly excited, and I look forward to continuing this blog with my adventures out there!!
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