birthday continued

after recouping from the Super Karaoke madness we drove up the mountain. the air was crisp, our spirits were high, our bellies were full and the windows were down.

check out the christmas trees! ->









John and Kevin took us up these two trails, Lost Cove Cliff and Harper Creek Falls. Now, they're both from here and these, we're told, are the best trails taking into account time available and the hiking comfort of the group.



firmly confident that our day will be a good one, and that our guides are trustworthy and knowledgable of the mountain- we press ahead

now, i forget which trail we took first, but i do know that the first one wasn't as steep as the second one. it was a relatively easy walk - don't get me wrong, we were breathing heavier than is usual and were definately sweating, but it was a good - you feel your whole body working, kinda way.

after treking up the narrow, leaf covered, slightly moist, sometimes tree root riddled path, we got to our first great view.
there was this waterfall and we came out from our trail at the top of it where we enjoyed a relaxing moment.

we all laid on our bags with a shirt covering our faces and just breathed in the scene.
after going back down, we went back the other trail which was significantly steeper to climb though the payoff was great at the end.

halfway-ish up this beast was an apple orchard albeit dead for the season, it was a nice break spot seeing as we were pretty out of breath by then. But, of course a steep climb means a great view and that's nothing less than what we got!

Sure, the walk was rough and slippery in places. Sure, there were times when we wanted to turn back, thought we could climb no more. True, I had doubts that my legs would last, but it was that faith in our comrades and knowing that no one is going to admit outloud that THEY'RE tired that kept us pushing forward. And, in the end we were on top of the world!