Hike up some Granite

I was really busy yesterday, so didn't have time to post these. Consequently, we are skipping WIP Wednesday so I can share some pics I took on the camping trip.

On Saturday we went on a hike up a creek. The weather was perfect for it. Sunny, but not too hot. I took almost all my vacation pics on this hike. It is my most favorite place to go on the whole earth. It is so beautiful! I've been to many of the national parks-Yosemite, Yellowstone, Glacier, etc. They all pale in comparison to this place, which, by the way, we stumbled across by accident on one of our exploring adventures last year.

We have to drive from the campground up a bunch of logging roads into the Idaho National Forest. At the end of one of these roads we arrive at the top of a ridge where there's a parking area. This is one of the views from that parking area.

A Granite Mountain

The mountains are all around us and they are made of solid granite.

The trail head

This is the direction toward the valley we are hiking up. (That's our Tundra pickup). The trail follows along a creek that tumbles down the valley on a steep granite slope.

Yellow Violet

One of the many wild flowers that were blooming along the trail.

Crossing a stream

The trail crosses 3 different streams. Normally they are shallow enough that you can wade through them. Not this year! With the record breaking snowfall in the mountains, and the unseasonably late snow melt, the streams were raging. Folks who had been here before us provided some 'bridges' for us to cross.

Stream #1

The logs we crossed were in front of this wonderful waterfall.

The main creek

This is it. My favorite place on earth. We were walking on solid granite. If not for assorted large boulders and logs, a person could ride this creek down like a water slide. It was exceptionally beautiful with the extra water in it this year.

Taking a knit break

I told you Monday I took a sock-in-progress with me to take pics. While I was sitting enjoying the view down the slope, I thought "Why not knit in the most beautiful place on earth?" Thank you, Sue, for taking the pic for me.

Down the slope

There seemed to be a large fountain spurting up down the slope. Everyone, of course, got curious about it, so we all climbed down to check it out.

The sock (and me) is awed.

The water was coming down the slope with tremendous power, where it slammed into this arrowhead shaped boulder and was thrown into the air 10 to 15 feet high. Awesome!

The view back up the slope

Beautiful, isn't it? Let me assure you, the pic does not do this place justice. Not only is it beautiful to look at, but it smells beautiful and feels beautiful too.

At this point, I stopped hiking with everyone else and stayed here. The previous evenings dinner was apparently having an argument with my digestive system. I'd been sick all morning and was feeling totally wiped out. So I decided to stay here and wait until everyone else came back. They continued on up the trail. I sat down in a comfy dip in the rock and knitted the sock.

I was feeling pretty bad about it, beating myself up because I didn't have it in me to keep going on up the trail. I know what's up that trail and I was not pleased about missing out on the sights. But my body was not cooperating. Then I had a thought. Here I was, knitting a sock, in the most beautiful place on earth. I'm living a fantasy here! As my daughter so lovingly pointed out later-how many other people have sat there and knitted? I'm the first! I stopped feeling bad and settled in for the long wait. I didn't expect them back for 2 to 3 hours.

A few other hikers showed up as I knitted. I wish you could have seen the looks on their faces when they stepped out of the bushes to find a fat lady in a cowboy hat knitting a sock on the edge of the creek. T'was priceless! LOL!

I finished the sock while I was waiting. It only took an hour. I was really disappointed because I figured I'd have another 2 hours to wait yet. I was feeling much better and was thinking about hiking on up and catching up with everyone else when I spotted brother in law Dan above me. They were back early. My daughter said I wouldn't have been able to go much further anyway. There was waaaay too much water in the creek and the trail was flooded further up. So they sat in a grove of cedars for a bit and ate the snacks we'd brought along with us. Then they turned back. Shoot! I would have liked to have seen that-though Ruth took pics for me.

We hiked back down the valley to the truck and headed back to camp.

A mountain goat

When we got back to our cars, Sue spotted a mountain goat way up on the slope above us.

Zooming in

We always have heard the goats are up here, but this is the first time I've ever seen one. So exciting!

Very long waterfall

On the way back to camp we stopped so I could take a pic of this long waterfall coming down off the steep side of the mountain.

Mountain Penstemon

There was some Penstemon growing along the side of the road

Silky Lupine

as well as lots of wild lupine.

All in all, it was a beautiful hike on a beautiful day.

Have a good one.