Girls Hike

Mom, Claire and I had a fun little girls hike. And by little, I mean about 8 miles round trip :) Claire, our babysitter of two years, is going away to college in Seattle next month. Our boys are very attached to her, and it's going to be hard on us all when she leaves. She is excited for her adventure there and plans to join hiking clubs at her college. She'll be studying nursing, which she I can totally see her doing and doing well. Mom and I thought we could infect her with the hiking bug on a pretty hike.  Our plan was do go to The Loch, which is only about 2.7 miles one way, and not too rigorous.

Mom standing at Alberta Falls.  Because of the large amount of snow they had this past winter, it was raging more than we've ever seen.  We were getting misted just standing by it.

Alberta Falls

Water rushing over the rocks from Alberta Falls

Alberta Falls

Claire and me at Alberta Falls

As we got closer to the Loch, we came across a couple of snow fields.

The beautiful, Loch Lake

Mom cooling her feet.  The water was so ice cold I couldn't hold mine under for more than a second.

Claire at the Loch

Perfect spot for a picnic and to rest our tired/hot feet

Pretty trail above the Loch heading towards Timberline Falls

Snowfield just under Timberline Falls.  It was too steep and slick to do in the gear we had on.

Rocks below the falls

As close as we were able to get to the falls with the snow

I climbed these rocks as high as I could to see the Timberline Falls

It was beautiful from here.  Can't wait to hike up to the top another time when the snow is melted.

Claire enjoyed the hike, but did get a pretty bad case of blisters.  I felt bad I didn't put on some mole skin for her to prevent them.  :(  After 8 miles we were all pretty tired, but thought this was an enjoyable hike.  If there wasn't so much snowfall and we could have made it to the top, you can actually hike up through the falls to the "Lake of Glass".  I'd like to do that next year.