hiking

Brian convinced me to go on a couple hikes with him in the last few weeks. Two weeks ago, we went to Timp Caves. I'd been there once before...I was probably 10, and my cousin Autumn had to carry me most of the way up the mountain. Fortunately, I'm slightly more used to higher elevation and steep climbs now, so Brian did not have to do the same. We had lunch near a beautiful (and COLD!) stream by the visitors' center and then did the hike in about 45 minutes. (I'm a slow wimp.) We had about 30 minutes before our cave tour started, so we rested and looked at the trees and animal life. When our tour guide came to collect tickets, we realized ours was nowhere to be found. (We looked in the car when we got back, and it wasn't in there either. Who knows what happened to it.) Apparently we looked like honest enough people that she let us go on the tour anyway. It probably didn't hurt that someone else who was waiting vouched for us because he'd been in line behind us and saw us pay in cash.

The caves were amazing! We saw all sorts of cool formations, and the pictures don't do them any justice at all. It was pretty chilly and damp inside, but I had brought a jacket and didn't freeze to death. My main problem was that I had been drinking a lot of water. I went to the bathroom just before the tour, but I continued drinking and didn't realize how long the tour would be. Whoops. The last 20 minutes or so were a little painful (sorry if that's TMI), but we found the bathroom again and I was fine.

I'm still not sure how, but Brian convinced me to hike Timp the next week. Working the day after Timp Caves was a little rough because I was pretty sore. I guess I love him a lot, because it didn't take much arm twisting for me to agree to the longer hike. He assured me that it wasn't as steep as the path to the caves (mostly), and even though it would take several hours one way, it would be completely worth it.

We started at the trail head around 5:30 AM and got back to the car at about 4:45 PM. Again, I'm a slow wimp. But in my defense, we also took several extended breaks for food (lunch at 9:30 AM) and the bathroom. (Did I mention we were on a mountain? There are no bathrooms....) We also spent about an hour on the summit. The scenery on the mountain was breathtaking, and we decided God is an amazing landscape architect. On the hike down, I was enthralled with all the wildflowers (I was on the way up too, but I just wanted to keep going while I had energy) and took bunches of pictures. I like to call myself a nursery nerd. (As my co-worker, Chandalar, put it, "Welcome to the world of horticulture.") Brian thinks it's very attractive that I know the scientific names for many of the plants, not just the common names. ;)

Overall, I enjoyed the hike. There was only about an hour where I was angry that I had let Brian talk me into it. ;) Shortly after we started down the mountain, I slipped on a steep, rocky slope. I landed hard on my bum (there's a pretty bruise now, but I can't show anyone) and gouged my hand. I think it was the sight of blood that started me crying, but it was the pain in my rear that continued it. Parts of the hike down were more painful after that, but I made it out alive.

It was crazy to me that I started out in shorts and a t-shirt and eventually progressed to a long-sleeved shirt, jacket, and Brian's warm-up pants. I swear I'm wearing a slightly different outfit in every picture. We'd be sweating in one part of the hike and walking through snow 15 minutes later.

There will be more pictures later. Oh, yeah, we saw a herd of mountain goats, and we were practically close enough to touch them? Also, the peak of Timp was in a cloud for part of the time that we were up there. Way cool.