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ed,
i think i will write up a better hike for you and you can put it
in. there is no way we can put the pix in (we aren't that smart), and when my
beautiful wife comes to bed, thats it for the evening usually. i thank
you over and over again for the patience you have showed, i can never repay
you for it.
so here goes.
frank
hey there folks, on july 3rd, 2008, my wife and i made a trip to g'burg in
hopes of gettin to do a hike with ed wright to leconte
lodge the following saturday. unfortuantely, i did not get a chance to
hike with ed, however, my wife and i did do the hike together.
we started out on saturday mornin with very over cast skies. did not
watch the weather. should have. it rained on us the first 4 hrs.
anyways, we arrived at the acb parking lot, prior to it starting to rain. a
very nice young woman took our pic for us. thank you, who ever you are,
and away we went. made it to the log bridges, it had already started raining.
crossed them with lots of pictures of my beautiful wife cautiously crossing
them, and up the steps to what i believe is the stairway to heaven. what
a hike so far and we were hardly even started. it was foggy and rainy
but the smoke off the mtns was gorgeous. we stood and watched it for a moment
or two. we eventually made it to this wide open space where you can see the
eye of the needle (forgive me, i have forgotten the name). it had stopped
raining for a moment, so we took some pix and just enjoyed the views.
finally making it to the acb, stopped for a few moments for a snack, and to
catch a breather. my wife loved it there. onward to the top. we
made it to the half way point, and break from the constant up hill grind.
got to the wooden steps, and the steps at the switch back. we were
taking pictures all along the way and they even turned out good. past
what i learned later to be grassy slide. it was foggy when we past and i had a
difficult time identifying places and landmarks. the trail appeared to be
gettin narrower, much to the dismay of my wife, but i loved it. rounding the
cliffs were quite nerve racking for my wife, but she made it. finally, the canopy
of trees we were looking for. more pix of that, and some pix at the
intersection where the acb, bullhead, and rainbow
falls rails all meet, then onto the lodge. rested for a bit,
purchased some t-shirts. we were pretty much soaked now, so my wife wore
her 2 and one of mine back down. had a bite to eat, signed the register,
took more pix, sun finally beginning to
show itself. spoke to a park
ranger for a bit, then back down the acb we went. took more pix goin
back down, seen and talked to numerous people comin down as we were going up,
and to many more going up as we were goin down. some we met were goin up
and beat us back down. they were flat movin. we weren't. stopped
off at the acb for another breather goin down and another snack, then on to
the car.
we were pretty much tired and sore from the hike, but had a blast.
thanx again ed for being so patient with me on this. this is the best i got.
respectfully
frank and sharon umbdenstock