On to the Good Stuff - Memorial Day, Day 3

The next day we were determined to get up to Lake Conasagua. We got up and dressed and out reasonably early, though we did need to make yet another stop at a grocery store for Caetlin's oft-requested crackers (the banana chips were not working any more).

The drive turned out to be quite a bit longer than expected. It was 40 curvy miles to the town where the directions to the trails (there were two that we wanted to do) actually started. Then it was allegedly another 18 or so miles from the town into the forest to the trailhead. We drove and drove...and drove and drove. Paved road gave way to gravel and dirt. Two lanes gave way to one and a half, maybe. Some civilization gave way to...none. When we reached the place where, according to the directions, we had 5 more miles, there was a big orange "Detour"sign. We are not stupid enough to drive around a "Road Closed" sign on that kind of road in that kind of place, so we followed the detour, which was like 10 miles long. And then we had like another 10 miles when we rejoined the correct road, all on twisty, bouncy mountain roads (no scary dropoffs or anything- I was mostly churned like butter from the ruts in the road). One thing I've noticed about the Forest Service directions- they are, um, free-spirited. So 5 miles may mean 5 miles, or it may mean 7 or 10. Or 2. You never know.

We finally- finally!- made it up the mountain to the lake. And it was packed, again! People picnicking, fishing, swimming. It was gorgeous, and so unexpected.

Bruce hauled the lunch, and I hauled the girl, and we set off. Our first half mile wound around the lake, and was so pretty. We found the trailhead for the one we wanted to do and set off. All was cool and quiet under the trees. We heard birds, the occasional squirrel and that was about it. Once we left the lake, all human noise died away. There was a nice breeze. The forest was green and smelled of earth and growing things. The word "dappled" even crossed my mind a time or two.

We let Caetlin out to walk some until she started sitting more than walking, and then loaded her in and kept going. She started asking me to sing, mostly when the trail got steep, so my singing ended up sounding like this, "Animals, animals (pant pant pant) look at all the animals (huff puff huff puff); animals animals (pant pant pant) they say hi (puff puff puff wheeze)." She didn't seem to care though. One plus about little kids this age- they have no quality control. They don't care how bad you sing, how funky your morning mouth is, or how lame your stories or dance moves are. They love your attention anyway.

We met a family coming down the trail when we were maybe halfway up who warned us of a large rattlesnake they had seen across the trail further ahead. Apparently their son, who appeared to be about 9, had almost tried to pick it up. Shudder. That meant that Caetlin did no more hiking by herself that day, though of course the snake was long gone when we hit that part of the trail. I'll note that we did not ask the family how much farther to the top. If we had, we may not have made it all the way to the fire spotting tower on top of the mountain.

We instead continued on up the hill in our blessed ignorance, and right about then it became up the hill in a big way. It probably wasn't a terribly steep grade in hiking terms, and the trail was fairly smooth in terms of rocks and tree roots, so I suspect it probably is among the more "family friendly" hikes out there. I also think, however, that "family friendly" may mean the trail is friendlier to families whose children can ambulate themselves. A so-so grade can turn into what feels like a sheer face when you have 30 pounds of hot baby on your back. My heart and lungs were working well- I almost never had to stop because I was breathing too hard. No, what was killing me were my legs. My calves, hamstrings, ankles and feet were really working overtime that day (no time and a half for you, lower body! This is a salaried position).

We made pathetic time, Bruce because he's hauling a good bit of extra weight around and me because I was also hauling a good bit of extra weight around, just in a different way. We had to keep stopping to rest our burning legs. And the trail never gave any respite either. The final mile was all varying degrees of up. No flat, no downhill, just...up. Near the top it was a less steep grade, and that felt like a gift from God.

The last 500 yards or so were along the gravel road up to the fire spotting tower, and that was kind of awful, because walking on the gravel hurt and was difficult as it rolled under our feet. Still, being on the road meant we were close, so we kept going. We finally made it to the tower, which was closed to people going up (as expected). We had hoped to be able to eat our lunch up there, because the tower was in a grassy clearing on top of the mountain, and the midges were driving us both crazy (they didn't seem to bother Caetlin, thankfully). She was hungry- it was much later than we had intended for her to eat, and she was focused on her "swit tato." (Trans: sweet potato.)

I couldn't eat much- the bugs were too obnoxious and I was feeling kind of ralphy from the heat. We were also geniuses who failed to bring enough water. We only had one bottle between the three of us. Still, we climbed up to the landing of the tower, to get a view from above the trees that ringed the clearing. It was a beautiful view, if a bit too hazy to really appreciate it (still no pictures, because of that forgetting the camera thing). Up the stairs there was a little bit of a breeze, and the bugs seemingly couldn't fly that high. I was sad that we couldn't have gone all the way up; it would have made an excellent picnic place, surrounded by beauty.

The trip back down took probably about a third of the time as the trip up. It was on the way down that I confessed to Bruce that the hike up had started to be a weary slog, rather than a fun walk in the woods, and that if we hadn't reached the gravel road when we did, I may have been in favor of turning around. He agreed with me, making me less lonely in my slackertude. On our way down we kept fantasizing about the car and the air conditioning therein, and the lack of necessity for me to carry Caetlin on my back, and the availability of chairs.

When we finally reached the ring trail around the lake, the cool breeze off the water felt like heaven. We stumbled our way back to the car, having hiked approximately 5 miles in 3 and a half hours. Yeah, we won't be setting any land speed records with that pace. Still, we enjoyed it immensely. I like having Caetlin strapped to my back as a way of bonding and spending time with her while still being able to do what I want to do, and the extra weight can only make me fitter as we keep hiking (I have a fantasy of Bruce and me being able to do the whole Benton-Mackaye Trail next summer).

Here is a list of ways in which we were underprepared for this hike, however:

1. We had purchased a picnic cooler/set for our day hiking needs, which is actually a really good thing to have along. It's one of those cooler things that also has little plates, napkins, silverware, etc. It's kind of a foofy thing, but I really liked having it, especially the napkins for various purposes (not the least of which was approximating Caetlin's oh-so-necessary blankets when she was tired on the way back down). However, the only one he could find was a shoulder strap bag. We really need a backpack for this purpose.
2. We failed to time it right with Caetlin and nap and meals. Blame the mountain for being steep. 3. We failed to bring enough water. We want to hike throughout the summer, so this will be key in the future.
4. We failed to bring a diaper for Caetlin. Ooops. Fortunately she did not poop (as she threatened to do near the beginning of the hike), and the diaper absorbed her urine fine, though once we got back to the car we realized it had been far too long since she had had a change. Still, it led to me making my way down the mountain convinced that I had pee all over me from her sure-to-be-overflowing diaper (turns out it was just sweat. You know, so definitely not gross). It turns out Bruce's Eagle Scout preparedness left us that day, but it was the source of some great lessons for the future. Nobody dehydrated, nobody was peed on, and we all got down safe, if tired and a little sore.

We took Caetlin home and put her to bed, I cooked dinner for myself, and after a quick soak in the hot tub for our sore muscles, we ended up driving ourselves back late that night rather than Tuesday morning as we had planned. It was the end of a fabulous 2/3 of the Memorial Day weekend.

Belatedly, let us not forget those who perished in service to the country, who surely deserve our remembrances.