7.5 miles of hiking • 1500' elevation gain •
We were all entirely frustrated with the wet side, so we went for (what we hoped would be) a nice walk in the rain shadow! The landscape was truly magnificent. So pleasant to be hiking without a jacket, again, too. The one thing we didn't count on was just how incredibly muddy the supersaturated soils would be. I'm sure we were hauling up to 20 pounds of clay on each foot at times, and each trekking pole must've weighed close to 4 or 5 pounds as well. At the end of the hike, and even the next morning, it felt like we'd gone at least 2x as far and climbed maybe 3x as high! It was an awesome day, to be sure. But would probably be better a bit later in Spring, when the soils may be somewhat drier and the flowers were coming to bloom.
(All photos that include me, courtesy of Mountainkat.)
