I re-visited an hiking trail that on the first (and only) time I hiked it, was a miserable experience. It was the first hike my hubby had taken me on and I was SERIOUSLY out of shape. This hike is 2 miles long, but you ascend 1100 feet in elevation, so it's no joke of a hike. I huffed and puffed and had to make numerous stopping brakes because my legs were killing me, I couldn't catch my breath and I didn't think I was going to make it. It took us over an hour to get up the trail, I was pretty much mortified and we haven't been back to the trail in over three years!
This weekend my hubby wanted to go hiking, it's his passion and he LOVES getting out on the trails. I'm not as big of a fan as he is, but you can't beat the views! So we headed out to North Bend and hiked Rattlesnake Ledge.
That is the ledge we were going to end up at!
The trail starts you off at this lake side, now when I was here last that entire lake was dried up and we were able to climb all over the tree stumps that were all over the place, that are now hidden by the water.
The trail is beautiful, there is no denying that. Wonderfully tall trees providing a nice canopy of shade to hike under, making the warm weather quite delightful to be in. The trail was just as I remembered it. Switchbacks and steep climbs dotted throughout, with the especially steep parts towards the top.
Yeah, it's beautiful, but I was cursing half the way up the mountain. It was hard, even after all the work I've been doing on my exercise, it is still a tough hike. But you know what? I didn't stop, I kept going. Hubby and I had one major stop where we sat down for a couple of minutes, but other than that, we trekked the whole way up. I was so delighted to see this sign, I knew we had finally reached the top!
And all our hard work was definitely rewarded, take a look at this view!
Wonderfully clear and stunning views all around! We sat for a while and talked, just soaking up the sun and the view.
I was so proud of myself (hubby was too, high fives for all!) for having made the trek up this trail that had defeated me so terribly the last time we met. I was proud of my progress and it just made me more excited about getting out to other trails this summer and kicking up another notch!
We were enjoying our time up there, with a whole bunch of others that had made the trek up the trail as well, but we knew we had to get back down before the trail got really busy. So we made our way back down and as we were getting closer to the base I picked up the pace a bit and started jogging the rest of the way down. Hubby followed suit and we ended up running back to the lake. I felt so good about this hike and the fact I still had energy left over to run for a bit and not be wiped out for the rest of the day. All of the work has not been in vain and I couldn't be happier.
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