And Miles to Go Before I Sleep

At 2:00 this afternoon, my husband and I and our two dogs set out to conquer The Sleeping Lady, as we are now calling her.  I'd done some research online and discovered that it was an 11.5 km hike that would take three hours and would bring us up to the highest part of the mountain, where there are several communication towers. (I like to imagine she's having a little acupuncture on her shoulder).  

It was hard to tell from the website whether it was an 11.5 km hike up to the top or if that was the length of a round trip.  We set out with the goal of hiking for an hour and half and deciding how far we would go from there. 

I was surprised to discover we had to go around the back of the mountain.  It wasn't too steep, except for the stretch past these cows, and there were some beautiful views when you turned to look back down the valley at the lake.

About half way up we found ourselves walking through a wooded area dominated by pale orange tamaracks.  The directions told us that once we traversed the upcoming four switchbacks we'd reached a flat area not far from the top.  After the third one we'd done our hour and a half and decided to press on to the top.  By the time we could see the seventh switchback, (yes, that's seven out of four) we'd stopped for me to recover from a low bloodsugar and were concerned about how much farther there was to go.  

It seemed like we were so close, but we'd had the same thought several times in the past 20 minutes.  We hated to give up when it seemed we were almost there, but it was four o'clock and we were concerned about having to walk through the bush in the dark.  

We decided to err on the side of caution and headed back down with the promise to return another time, in the morning, with our lunch.  It took us an hour to get back down the hill with the two of us commenting on our sore knees most of the way, but the dogs bounded through the grasses with the joy and energy only children and puppies possess.

I was proud of us for getting as far as we did and I think we did the right thing turning around. The sun was starting to set and it was much cooler by the time we go to the car.

I'm really looking forward to our next attempt but for now I'm looking forward to a soak in the hot tub and a generous glass of an Argentinian Malbec.