Shortly after you pass the Y on the mountain there's a great spot for a scenic view of the valley.
As we hiked, there were a lot of great opportunities for some beautiful photos. I'd done the hike with some friends about three years ago, and I felt confident that if we just stayed on the main trail we'd eventually pop out in Rock Canyon. After hiking uphill for about 2 1/2 hours, we even passed a very nice couple who was going the opposite direction and had started at Rock Canyon, so we were very encouraged.
It started to sprinkle just a little bit, but we were prepared and although we got a little wet, it was a light enough mist that it made hiking even more enjoyable. After a while, I mentioned to Casey that I didn't exactly remember the part of the trail that we were on... that it wasn't familiar, but that maybe in the last three years they had gone through and widened the trail. We didn't really worry about it too much. As we got closer to the end of our hike, we started to talk about how excited we were to get to the car and rest our aching bones (neither of us is in shape like we should be). Imagine our dismay when we realized that we had exited from the wrong canyon. Instead of being in Rock Canyon, somehow we had gone astray and ended up in SLATE CANYON- the exact opposite direction that we thought we were going!
No sooner had Casey turned to me and said, "We're in Slate Canyon!" there was a tremendous flash of lightening, rolling thunder, and rain started to pelt us so hard that it stung! Our cars were parked at the base of the Y and at Rock Canyon, so I shouted over the sound of the rain that we should call someone to get us. Casey, however, told me that if we hiked along the Bonneville Shoreline trail, the Y parking lot would be just beyond the ridge. I was skeptical, but agreed to follow him.
The trails were flooding, the wind was whipping the rain into our faces so that it felt like hail, and a MILE AND A HALF LATER we finally arrived in the parking lot at the Y. We were absolutely drenched. Casey couldn't stop laughing... but if it wasn't for him, I probably would have cried instead of laughed! I could have rung buckets full of water out of my coat.
In the end, we figured that we hiked about 9.5 miles. We drove to Rock Canyon to get Casey's car, went home, took nice hot showers, and then ate some potstickers and had hot chocolate. In the end it was a great adventure and I can laugh pretty hard about it now, but we still have no idea where we must have taken that wrong turn. Neither of us ever remember coming to a fork in the trail, and part of me wants to try it again, just so we can find out what happened.
2 comments:
That story was such a Lisa story! I love it! I also love how you are always able to see the adventure and positive in sometimes not so fun situations.
Awesome story Lisa! I can imagine how relieved you were to get back to the car. On an editors note; perhaps upon re-telling the story you could add in an encounter some type of predatory animal - for an even greater dramatic effect.
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