This is a hike that Nina had scheduled. Eight people showed up at the trail head: Robert, SteveT, Rick, SusanM, Marleana (new gal), Bill and Claire. Nine was running late so we took off at 3:10pm. For me it was making sure we would get out of the canyon before it got too dark. I was tired from yesterday's hike and walked slower than normal, hoping this would give Nina a chance to catch up. I brought Sadie and Minnie along, but in the future I'm going to take only one dog on a hike this big.
Weather was warmer than last week's Brown canyon hike. I wore a fleece sweater this time, underneath my thin Marmot rain jacket. Luckily, though, there was far less snow on the north side of the hills than last week. This week's 60-degree weather has helped melt away a lot of the snow. The water by the horse through, that was frozen over last week, had melted away. There were still some smaller ice packs in the shade of the trees, but nothing like last week.
Robert kept saying to us that he wanted to show us something at his RV and we all obliged. What could that be? A pile of dead mice? (He'd been fighthing the vermin as they were found chewing the insulation inside his truck). No, that was not it. He had surprised me with a birthday cake and the entire group sang Happy Birthday to me outside his RV before we went back inside to enjoy the cake. Both dogs were tied up outside, but I sat near the open door so that they knew I was nearby. They whined but did not bark and never took their eyes off the front door.
He bought the cake at the commissary and it was quite tasty, with a creamy white topping that didn't have the super-sugary topping of most cakes. We ate the entire cake before resuming the final mile back to our cars at the trail head.
I can't remember the last time someone acknowledged my birthday. This surprise was quite humbling.
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