Henry Coe 2002 05 12
Michael Wimble/Janna Fox
5/16/02
10 people, 8 miles, you do the math
fomfok@yahoogroups.com

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A bad omen on any of our trips -- men with maps. Dirk, Mike, Ron, and Sherman each point to the trail starting point, and none is pointing to the same point.
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Sherman, Kathy, Janna, Dirk, Zona, Ron, Laura, Robin and Julia gather at the starting line.
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The trail starts with a good climb up to the ridge top through meadows of flowers.
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At the ridge top, everyone but Mike goes out to a vista point.
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While Mike heads of to photograph flowers off the edge off the ridge top.
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An example of a tree riddled with woodpecker holes.
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Coming down the first ridge, the trail that Kathy, Julia, and Robin are on is much steeper and more slippery than it appears.
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About half way down the mountain towards Frog Lake.
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A small stream crossing. Janna is still up the trail taking photographs every 3 feet or so.
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Most trails are about this wide, through fields of flowers.
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Janna really gets into picture taking at Frog Lake.
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Time for the first break, in the shade near Frog Lake.
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Sherman parks his fancy cane and loads up with with what we assume is water. But, see the pictures at the end of the gallery.
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Laura makes sure that a hawk isn't after her snack, and the ravens aren't about to decorate her hair.
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Everyone was fascinated by the amazing burls on the oak tree down the trail.
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Kathy calls the wild turkeys.
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Mike trails the group, heading through another field of flowers towards the next mountain top.
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Some of the flowers.
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Getting close to the highest ridge line.
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Robin, Julia, and Kathy work together to get up the short but steep final climb to the ridge top.
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Ron, Dirk, Mike, Sherman, Julia, Kathy, Zona, Robin, and Laura at the second break.
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Chinese lanterns.
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The irises here are intensely blue.
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Another typical field of flowers.
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After falling off the side of the mountain, Mike gets his leg treated by Kathy.
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Kathy's makeshift bandage.
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Kathy's verdict is that Mike will not only live, but will be able to hike out of the valley. Mike is understandably elated.
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Zona's grasshopper. "Oh, isn't it beautiful? Look how beautiful it is", Zona says. "It's just a bug, for God's sake", says Kathy.
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It's a steep climb up to the top of the first mountain again, but with lots of switch backs, making it easier than you would think.
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This is the fifth time that Mike and Kathy have led this hike. And, as always, Mike always hates that last mile. "It's a pleasant 5 mile hike", he says, "unfortunately, it's 6 and a half miles long."
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Back at the top of the first mountain, we meet up with several other hiking groups.
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Almost back to the ranger station, Mike points out who was the most devilish on the hike.
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But it's still a half mile to the ranger station, up hill, and we're all out of energy. So Mike rallies the troops who are all holding up one finger and chanting, "We're number one."
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Proof that we made it back. But, now we have to walk yet another half mile back to the parking lot.
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Back to the parking lot, Robin checks for broken bones, torn tendons, and to see if her arm shrunk during the hike. Her arm used to reach all the way to her toes at the beginning of the hike.
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Laura and Julia solve the shrinkage problem by pushing their legs back up into their body so their arms will be long enough to touch their toes again.
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Back at Julia's, Zona oversees the barbecue.
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Ron acts as official food taster. Sherman seems to be tilted a bit -- perhaps he's already had too much to drink.
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After Ron tests the food, he passes it on to Robin to eat. Sherman is still drinking and is tipping even more.
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Is there anyone who didn't see this coming?