Approximately 30 miles of hiking in 4 days–I think this is a new personal best. On Monday, I hiked 10.5 miles to Timber Lake on the west side of the National Park. Tuesday, I had to work, but I lead a Beaver Walk that was 2 miles. On Wednesday, I did my first “C” class hike to Spectacle Lakes which was 10.5 miles. Lastly, Thursday morning before work, I hiked 7 miles to Bridal Veil Falls with my coworker Larissa.
All of these hikes were very different, but all very enjoyable. I had been wanting to do the Timber Lake hike ever since my plans to do this with a group of coworkers fell through. I did this hike with hike master MK and two other YMCA guests. It was great hiking in such an intimate group, and we all traveled at the perfect pace. MK was very excited to do this hike because when her father visited the park in 1968, this trail was the one hike he did. She had me take a picture of her by the trail sign, the same spot her father had been photographed 40 years earlier. We did this hike in 5 3/4 hours, including stops and our lunch at the lake.
One of the hikes we lead in the program department is called a “Beaver Walk”. On grounds, we have a few beaver damns and lodges, so we go on a short hike to explore their habitat and educate the guests about the beaver. I’ve lead this hike about 5 times now, and it hasn’t gotten old yet. The other day, we actually lucked out and saw a beaver in daylight. Usually you can only see them around dusk.
On Wednesday, I had originally planned to hike to Pear Lake in the Wild Basin area of the National Park. However, plans for that fell through. Pear Lake was rated a “D” and the only other decent hike being lead out that day was to Spectacle Lakes, which was rated a “C”. I decided to bite the bullet and attempt this hike. Boy am I glad I did! The hike was moderate until we reached Ypsilon Lake where the trail ended. After that, we scaled a waterfall for 1/2 a mile to reach Spectacle Lakes at the base of Ypsilon Mountain. The water was a beautiful blue, and the canyon echoed like no other place I’ve found in the park. I was definately sore after this hike, but it was worth it.
Lastly, on Thursday I hiked with my friend Larissa to Bridal Veil Falls in the Lumpy Ridge area of the National Park. I love Lumpy Ridge because of all the interesting rock formations. I also love waterfall hikes. I figured this hike had to be a winner, because it was both in Lumpy Ridge and the destination was a waterfall. The hike was extremely easy–we hiked 3.5 miles in 1.5 hours. This was my first time hiking with Larissa too, so we got to know each other a lot better on this hike.
