Westward, Ho!

This morning, we said goodbye to our friends, old and new. Below is the motley crewe with whom we spent the week at the Ring Lake Ranch: I will confess that living rustic is just not my thing. In addition to bugs crawling on my arms at night and moths flying onto my iPad as I read with the lights off (if that doesn't make you jump, I'm not sure what will), there was no air conditioning, dust and dirt everywhere from the wind blowing through the open windows, and rats living in the crawl spaces of the cabins. And we could smell their pee in our cabin. Luckily, I learned about that (their living in the crawl spaces) just the day before we left so that there was only one night during which I thought, as I went to the bathroom at whatever time, "Please don't let my feet touch anything other than the floor. Please don't let my feet touch anything other than the floor. Please don't let my feet touch anything other than the floor." Of course, last night was the n...

 On the Ring Lake Ranch property, there are numerous petroglyphs. A petroglyph is an image made in the rock, in this case by the Shoshone. These are some of them:

I have never hiked at this altitude. It was very challenging. We did 5.5-ish miles with an elevation gain of 1000+ feet, up to 8500. It was boulder-y and while there were some switchbacks, there were several gains that were not. It also rained and hailed, and there was a period of time when we had thunder. At the top, at Lake Louise, which is a glacier-fed lake, the winds were at 35 mph. It was tough. But we made it down and back to the ranch. I do not think that I will hike tomorrow. I'm ready for the hiking in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains again.  I won't post my photos of what Dan has already posted, so mine are from the lower waterfall on up.  Heart lichen I love the tenacity of things growing in rock. Torrey Creek, which flows from Lake Louise, which is glacier fed.  Where we hiked from Lake Louise

Today after breakfast, we joined the hiking group going to Lake Louise. More accurately, Vicki went for the whole hike, and I went in only as far as the waterfall.  Some pics: This is Vicki, Rebecca, and our friend from Weaverville, MaryAnn.  Vicki and her group had quite the experience after my group returned.