We
left the trailhead at 9am. Temps were in the thirties.
There was a little snow and ice on the trail almost
immediately. We met a couple coming down the trail at Arch
Rock. They had only gone as far as the Bluff. They warned
us that there were a lot of falling icicles
there and to watch out for them. That turned out to be true and
it was cool seeing ice come crashing down like that. We made it
to the lodge at 1:00. Temps were in the upper 20's and the wind
was really cold. We were well prepared though, and at no time
uncomfortably cold. There are more buildings than I thought
there would be. A temporary
caretaker by the name of John Crowder was there. He
was giving the regular caretaker a break. He invited us
into the kitchen and made us some hot chocolate. That was a nice
break! Then he opened up the office so we could go in and look
at the pictures and sign the guest book. I think it was very
nice of him to do that. We certainly didn't expect it. We
left the lodge at 2:30 to head back down and
were back at the parking lot at 4:45. We were
some hurtin people though. We really pushed ourselves.
On
Saturday we did a short hike near the Sinks on Jake's Creek trail.
We were all still sore, so we didn't make it very far. We did
agree that it was a trail that we would like to come back and do again
when we could back country camp.
