Union Falls

(Union Falls)

(Stream crossing... I was standing in the middle snapping a few photos)

Howdy.

The internet has been slow and uncooperative the past few days so I've been unable to update my faithful following on my trip backcountry. First off, it was great. The highlight of the trip was Union Falls, which I'll post a few photos of.

But, leading up to that trip I did Observation Peak (actually finishing it this time). It was probably 10.5 (out and back) miles and we hiked it in a rapid manner. We were to the top in 1 hour and 19 minutes, and finished in 2 hours and 36 minutes. My legs were feeling it the next day. Why so fast? Because we had to make it back in time for dinner! I can't help but get my priorities straight.

A friend of mine that I trained with had a friend of hers coming in to the park to visit for four or five days and since she had a few days off we decided it'd be a good time to go backpacking. Thus, we (they) decided on the Bechler River Trail out to Union Falls. We were feasted on by mosquitoes (Aaron, the lovely visitor, counted roughly 75 mosquitoe bites after our one night stay in the backcountry).

The hike itself actually wasn't too difficult other than the distance. It was very flat and fast. We had a couple of river fordings that got in the way so that took a little bit of time to change shoes and such, but it was pretty fun. The water was chilly, but not freezing. The water was deep enough to come up to my mid thigh, but not enough to get the bottom of my pack wet or anything.

Our campsite, 9U3, was the only one in the area that hadn't been reserved so we were forced to take it. It was difficult finding a spot near the place the hang our packs, but we got it taken care of. It was nice putting the Zolo 2 to use for the first time. It got a little dirty so it'll need a bath after another use or two.





Well, in other recent news, I shaved off my beard. It was getting a bit gnarly so I figured I'd start fresh. It took me approximately two days to upload these select photos, so I'm tired of looking at this Blogger page now. If you want to see other photos I took, feel free to check out my Facebook page. Until next time...