Today’s hike was really more “hiking lite”. It was a short, easy trip just to get a little exercise and get out in the woods. After my last trip (the snowshoe outing on 1/1), I came down with the flu, and right when I was feeling better from that, I came down with a cold. So, I was pretty much sick for 3 weeks. I was recovering from my cold, and thought a quick trip down Alder Flat would be a great trip. It is short, with little elevation. I knew Thor would have fun in the river too, so it seemed like a good plan.

We headed out late, after lunch (since I knew it was going to be a short trip). We got to the trailhead a little after 1:00 and headed down. It only took us about 30 minutes to get to the river. This is the view looking downstream from the campsites:

Once at the river, we looked for a sunny spot since it was a little cool. We walked upstream until we found a sunny spot. I sat down and just enjoyed the view and had some water. Thor was restless, so we continued walking upstream as far as we could easily walk. On the way, Thor had to play in the river:

A little farther upstream there was some pretty fast whitewater rapids:

We continued upstream until we couldn’t easily go farther – it was a nice view – one I had never seen before:

We walked back to where I’d left my backpack and then headed back up the trail. On the way back, we made the side trip over to the “lake” (it is kind of swampy) – we walked around the south side of the lake to where the beaver dam is (it is under the big log):

While we were heading over to the side trail, Thor perked up and I wasn’t sure if he sensed some animals or what. A little farther up the trail I thought I heard voices and a little farther I saw two guys up on a rock outcropping just off the trail. Thor sensed/heard them long before I did!

Anyway, it was a pretty uneventful trip back to the truck. Just a nice quiet walk in the beautiful old growth down near the river. Even though it was a short trip, it seemed to be enough to tire Thor out. He slept all the way home.

This trip was just what the doctor ordered – a beautiful day out in the woods. Hopefully my next trip this year will be more adventurous!