We took Nala on her first hike. We chose one of our family's favorites--7 Bridges Trail. It was a beautiful morning! Unfortunately, there were a lot of people with the same idea. Even though it was crowded, we really enjoyed ourselves. Nala did too, especially after she got used to the other people passing. It took her a while to realize that it was OK to cross the bridges too. It was a little scary for her. Julie and Jeremy Zelasko came along with us. Good thing for me, Julie had her iPhone to take pictures (since I left my camera on the island back at home!)
Important to have the "Grandma Rita" picture of flowers :)
Nala got much better at crossing the bridges. By the end, she had NO trouble at all!
One of the bridges...doesn't look too stable!
Here is the rock where Wayne tried to be funny. He thought Julie and I were coming up the trail when in fact, we were sitting and resting. A couple of hikers passed us up. Poor Wayne had no idea and began "barking" at them. He made that poor girl jump. Of course, Julie and I had a good laugh over it!
Then Wayne decided that rather than going AROUND the rock, he would go through them. He had to do some major "shimmying". Part way through, his comment was "good thing I go to Weight Watchers". ha ha. Too bad we didn't get a video of it!
This is at Bridge 7. Time to relax (and play in the water)
Chris had to join Wayne who was relaxing on a rock and eating his lunch.
Then they decided to have a stick race--to see whose stick would get to the bridge first...
Wayne's stick won!
By the time we went over the 7th bridge, I was exhausted. I really don't understand, because I have walked a LOT farther. I am wondering if the altitude is making it more difficult, plus it was ALL uphill. I sat on a bench and just relaxed and watched everyone play around the water.
Chris playing "King of the Rock"...notice Wayne in the background just chillaxing on another rock!
After resting for a bit, my sprained wrist was giving me problems. I tried to cool it off in the water. Not a real attractive picture, but it did the job and bringing the swelling down (that water was COLD)
Jeremy resting on the 7th bridge.
Here is Wayne looking for gold!
And Jeremy looking for Gold.
Chris just watched and didn't participate in the "gold hunting".
Can you see the little speck of "gold" on Wayne's thumb?
A sweet bug landed on Jeremy...it tried to be stylish and wear the same color!
On the way back down, Nala had NO trouble with the trail or the bridges!
After getting in the car and going down the canyon, we noticed a brown bear just up the hill. You can't really see it in this picture, but he is there right in the center. There were times when he was in clear view of us. (The IPhone died)
Interestingly, there have been many things warning of bears. With all the fires, they are lower and looking for food! It was actually a cool experience! I have never seen a bear in the wild (I have heard one like when we were camping and the bear was just outside of our tent). I have seen them in Zoo's and on the TV, but never in a natural setting. I have to say that I was grateful that we didn't see this bear while hiking. I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much!
