Monday, March 23, 2009

Hike: Lost Horse Mine

We woke up this morning to sunshine and 33 degrees, with the wind still blowing. Adrienne joined us in the Chalet around 6:30 and we continued last night’s inside huddle, drinking coffee and tea and talking. Bob and Cathryn felt the night had been mighty chilly, but Adrienne said she was warm and toasty in the sleeping bag and tent! We decided it was too cold and windy for a run, in addition to the fact the restrooms here do not include showers, only toilets, and it’s too windy to set up the shower tent. Around 8:30 we packed up and left for our morning hike. We drove 10 miles to the trailhead for the Lost Horse Mine. The trail was 4 miles round trip, with only 500 feet of elevation gain through high desert landscape. The scenery, including many Joshua Trees, which is a humongous and distant relative of the lily family, was very pretty, if austere. We were a bit disappointed to find the mine itself surrounded by an eight-foot chain link fence which made photography difficult, but it was fun nonetheless. We returned to camp about noon for lunch and will leave shortly for town to pick up a few groceries and hopefully post to the blog. Then this afternoon we have a couple more short hikes planned. Tomorrow morning we’ll pack up and head for Death Valley about 225 miles to the north, northeast. Adrienne seems to be enjoying her time away from school, and we are enjoying our last days of sunshine before returning to the Pacific Northwest.

No comments: