Abbey's Road

I've been doing more hiking lately and even remembered to bring my camera. I convinced Mike to join my on one of the group hikes last weekend, but we were both sorry we went. Actually, the hike was a real nice hike and we enjoyed most of the people, but the organizer was not, well....organized. Not only did half the group not show up, but it was very spread out and she lost complete track of her dog. Some other couple found him and brought him along on their hike. She was really pissed at them, but we were thinking that he'd be better off with the new couple. Then on Thursday both Gwen and Mike had off, so we went again. I actually had planned to work (OK, volunteer) at Engineers Without Borders, but decided to play hooky and go hiking instead. Good thing I'm not getting paid for that job or I might feel guilty.

Yesterday, I went with the other group that I've done most of my group hiking with. There usually is a pretty big group, but this time there were only 4 of us. I half expected the leader to call me in the morning telling me she was going to bag it, but it wasn't the case. In fact, one of her friends decided to go at the last minute, otherwise there would only have been 3. On the drive up, the weather didn't look too promising and I was beginning to think I should've cancelled, but I kept driving anyways. It actually turned out to be a great hike. The weather held out. It was cloudy, but because of that it wasn't hot at all. Despite the clouds, they were high enough so that we still had good views. The four of us yacked the whole way up and back down and we still managed to keep a pretty quick pace. Scott, the other guy, was a newcomer to the group and he was a wealth of information, a walking encyclopedia of backpacking, hiking and gear-related tips and tricks. The women, believe it or not, were so excited. They were also excited to have 2 guys along that would actually talk on the trail. Of course, I did have trouble getting a word in edgewise at times, but kept up my end whenever I could.

Mike and Gwen at Blue Lake
Wildflowers on Blue Lake Trail

Lake Dorothy Pictures

Near top of Twin Sisters
Longs Peak