A Three Hour Tour

So yesterday, after much hemming and hawing and waffling and wiffling, a decision was made that those who were interested in a hike would meet and depart for said hike at 1:30. Tim and I were prompt. As were a few others. But then others trickled in and out of the process until finally we thought we had everyone and we left. When we were about 3/4 of the way there, we got a call from an uncle and cousin who had wanted to come who hadn't been around when we left feeling very upset about having been left behind. So we pulled off and waited til they caught up and then continued on our merry way.

The trail, said our trail guide cousin, was about 5 miles round trip and "moderate". After throwing Joshua in the backpack and starting out, we realized very quickly that we're not sure they really understood what moderate meant because I'm pretty sure steep switchbacks fraught with roots and tenuous footing really qualifies. Regardless, we trudged along and laughed as the group split into the "sprinters", "hikers" and "laggers." Before long, the sprinters were long gone, the hikers had given up on trying to wait, and we laggers (me, Tim, Josh, and two aunts) were just having a merry time.

About an hour and a half later, we decided we'd had enough. Even at our pace, we were convinced we had definitely gone about 2 miles and should be somewhere near the top, but quick forays ahead proved that the trail just went on and on, so we gave up and headed back down. We got back to the house where we're staying at about 6.

Thanks to the joy of cell phones, we found out that the sprinters and hikers had, eventually, met at the top and were heading back down. But they ended up separating because of some potty breaks and so forth. And so it was that at about 8:30 we started seriously considering sending a group back with flashlights to make sure that everyone could actually get home. Before that had too much time to take route, we got another call that one group was headed home and two members of that group had headed back up with flashlights to intersect the other group and that they'd be home shortly.

All in all, we were pretty glad that we didn't perservere, since it turned out that the trail was about 6 miles each way....not really an afternoon length hike.

To quote Westley, "Well. That was an adventure."