2nd Reservoir

Mike and I went on a hike today to the 2nd Reservoir.  It was a LONG hike.  Who stayed with the kids while we were on this hike?  Rachel did!  How nice of Rachel to come all the way from Japan to babysit our kids.  Yep, I feel kind of guilty about that.  Originally we had planned to have my dad watch the kids.  He stayed at our house tonight with Max so he could get lots of time in with Marie and Mina.

Anyway, back to our hike.  Tomorrow is our 17th anniversary.  Mike has always wanted me to go on a hike with him to the 2nd Reservoir. (Everyone on the hike called it the Upper Reservoir.  One person even called it the 'Upper Rez').  Mike and I even put it as one of our physical goals to accomplish this summer.  When I suggested the idea of going on the hike for our anniversary, Mike got super excited.  Then he started ordering backpacks and other such nonsense.  Wow.  Can I just say that hiking with a backpack is more than 100 times harder than hiking without a backpack!  I was quite tired by the time we made it to the 1st Waterfall - the same waterfall we had hiked with the kids a couple of weeks before.  We still had a LONG way to go.

Stephanie & Mike - 1st Waterfall

 A nice guy named Sterling took our picture

 Stephanie - We called this Moon Rock

 Mike - I can't believe how high we were already

 Stephanie

 This hang glider was flying with an eagle for awhile

We missed the 2nd Waterfall on the way up.  Mike said it was right along the trail . . . we must have taken the wrong trail.  At one point we did and ended up needing to backtrack.  The end of the hike was the worst.  The picture below does no justice to how steep those rocks were. Have I mentioned I am afraid of heights?  I was so scared!  Especially with the backpack on.  I felt that if I moved a couple of inches in the wrong direction it would be all over for me.  We had to hike about an hour after this point.  I was so tired.  I even had to say a few silent prayers to be able to keep going.  Exhausting.

Stephanie climbing the rocks of doom

 But look at this view!

Okay, it is kind of hard to tell how pretty it was with the pictures.  I still can't believe I was able to get this high.  Using my feet.  That seemed like an unlikely event.  The picture below isn't a super cool picture, I just like how blue the sky is and how crisp everything looks.

Stephanie's back

There was a really cool campsite up there.  It had a great place for a tent, a fire pit and little chairs made out of stone.  There was nothing that even compared to this on the way up.

 Mike on the cool stone chairs

Mike had brought some 'Mountain Man' dinners or something like that.  They weren't the best thing I have ever tasted, but at the time I certainly wasn't picky.

Stephanie's dinner

 Mike's dinner

Here is a picture of the 2nd Reservoir . . . aka the Upper Reservoir.  My sister-in-law, Shannon, doesn't believe this reservoir exists - so she calls it the Mythical Reservoir.  Steve got lost on that hike with Shannon while they were dating.  I am glad we made it to this campsite before it was dark.  I was really worried while we were climbing those rocks that the sun would go down and I would have to try to navigate the rocks in the dark.  I did not want to do that!

2nd Reservoir

After dinner, hot chocolate and hot apple cider I crawled into my sleeping bag.  I was so tired!  I am glad I made it all the way.  I enjoyed most of it.  I did not enjoy the rocks.  I was very glad the kids weren't with us on the hike when we were on the rocks.  I am glad I didn't fall. The only problem is . . . I have to go back down them tomorrow!