"A NOTCH ABOVE THE REST"

I'm about to be long-winded and picture-happy, just so you know. There's your official warning.


Last weekend, Clint & I went on a short camping trip to Notch Peak with 2 of Clint's best buddies and their wives: John and Ashley, and Eddy and Krisi. We had a really great time; those guys were really fun to hang out with. It was fun for me to sit around the campfire and hear Clint reminiscing with his friends about the past--when they were scouts, when they were in high school, and when they last came to Notch Peak. Apparently, the last time they came to Notch Peak together was about 7 years ago, right after graduating from high school. They were a bunch of guys about to go their separate ways to college and various mission fields. That night when they sat around the campfire, they made bets on who would get married first, and who second, and third. I guess Clint and I owe them dinner since Clint betted on himself being last but ended up being first! Ha ha.


Anyway, we'd been planning this hike for weeks, and had to postpone due to inclement weather, but finally decided that the first weekend in June should be a pretty safe bet. Friday night when we camped it was indeed beautiful. The skies were clear and starry; Clint and I stayed up by the campfire counting shooting stars and pointing out constellations like Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, the Summer Triangle, Cignus the Swan, the Pleiades, and Cassiopeia. (My parents have a great constellation book with glow-in-the-dark dots that I used to love to use on summer nights.) But anyway, so, we were feeling pretty confident about the weather until the next morning when we woke up to rain and HEAVY fog. It was thick and incredible. I, personally, wouldn't have minded hiking in it; it made me feel like I was in the Wilderness in the Clouds. But our group was on the verge of deciding to turn back without doing the peak! I thought, "You've got to be kidding me; the only reason I ate all that junk food last night was because I thought I was going to hike it off today." You can imagine how camping goes with a husband who loves to pack along junk food. But...we decided to at least hike up a couple miles and see what would happen (the total distance to the peak is somewhere around 4.5-5 miles.)


Here are some pix.
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When we woke up on Saturday morning and weren't sure if we would hike or not, we decided to check out the infamous, old, abandoned mine shaft and the creepy, haunted mining cabin across the road (below). Apparently, Jeff (Clint's dad) has an interesting and QUITE historical account about these exciting landmarks, but none of the boys was brave enough to recount it for me amid the ghostly, lowering mist.
Once we were started hiking, the fog began to lift and expose these magnificent cliffs (below). The hike was enchanting and mystical for those first couple of miles. I felt like I had wandered into a long-forgotten canyon right out of some ancient fairytale.





A little ways into the hike, the weather cleared up just enough that we decided it was worth it to continue to the top. And I'm SO glad. Wow, this hike was COOL! The terrain was completely different than any other setting I've hiked in. First, you're in this barren desert, then you get into the canyons and you hike up this rocky, rugged, dried stream bed with green trees and bushes growing right out of the mountainside. COOL!!! P.S. That huge log we're standing on must have been ANCIENT (above).

Here's the top (above and below). And just FYI, all the fog behind us is covering nothing more than a 2,500 foot, straight drop. Aaah!

Again, nothing behind us here.

Here's John (below) looking over the edge at the top. He also kept hucking rocks over the edge. He was creeping me out, seriously. It wasn't funny how steep that drop-off was. His wife, Ashley, poor girl, kept saying in her sweetly persuasive, meek way: "Um, John? Don't get so close to the edge, okay?" I feel you, girl!

Here's a good view of what the drop behind Clint looks like minus all the fog...

These are my feet dangling over the edge, just so you know... (hee hee hee!)