Leading a hike

I’ve been participating in a local “events” group for a couple of months, and have been enjoying it. Whenever I get a free night or morning, I look up whatever might be going on, whether it’s a morning coffee klatch, a hike, movies, a card tournament, karaoke, dancing. And the people I’ve met through the group have been very nice and welcoming.

Last week, I decided to make my own little contribution to the group, but hosting a hiking event. The weather last week had been so inviting, I was eager to head out into the gorge, and dragging some people along sounded even better. I picked a date and hike, made all my plans and posted the event to the board.

Of course, the weather turned nasty soon after and I started fretting about whether the hike was going to happen or not. Because that’s what I do. I fret. On Monday we had a few bouts of torrential downpour, and I was really worrying. But Tuesday was mostly dry and the weather for Wednesday said “Partly Cloudy”, so I tried to be optimistic. I posted an update to the group saying the hike was a “go”. After posting that, the same afternoon, we got a batch of hail. Twice. Sigh.

But Wednesday rolled around. And while it was bleedin’ cold this morning, the skies were beautiful blue. Everyone who had RSVP’d for the hike actually showed up, and a couple of more people besides. And two dogs!

We went to “Gorge Loop #2”, which starts at Horsetail Falls, goes up to Ponytail Falls and then Oneonta Falls before heading back down to the Historic Columbia River Highway.

The day just got prettier as we went along, and the trails were in pretty good shape. There was only one stumble (me) with minor injuries (a skinned knee). Everyone seemed to have a good time, and my only regret was that we didn’t take the extra two miles to head up to Triple Falls. Oh well, another time. I suspect I’ll be hosting many more such hikes in the coming months.