Harp Mountain Hike

This was a Valley Wanderers hike, but there weren't very many people wandering with us. I got to the trailhead 15 minutes early and saw Chris's car parked there. Diane was leading and she brought her friend, Linda. But no one else came. Chris was somewhere far ahead so it was just the 3 of us and Bella heading up the mountain. Diane is really speedy, but she did wait for us 2 slower people to catch up. When we reached the first of several false summits, Linda decided that she'd had enough of that trail. She chose to just wait there until we returned. She found the rocks and scree quite intimidating. It was getting kind of windy, so I ended up wearing my windbreaker even though at the start it was quite warm. The trail is very rocky and can be a bit on the treacherous side. Bella was always up ahead with Diane. We finally found Chris up on the summit. It was very beautiful and green across the valley and there were wildflowers everywhere. Since I was kind of slow, I didn't stop often enough to get very many good flower photos. We kept our break on the top kind of short so Linda didn't have too long to wait. On our way down, we encountered several other hikers. Plus, of course, a few dogs. Bella had to interact with most of the dogs, but nothing too serious. It was slow going on the descent because of the loose scree. We had to be very careful to avoid a bad fall, I did slip once and smacked my good elbow on a rock. But fortunately, it seems to be fine. I don't need another broken elbow. One of those is enough. We all made it back to the cars without incident or injury. Chris was much faster and was wearing ice grippers on his feet. I guess they would have helped, but I prefer not to wear them on rocks. I tend to catch them on rocks and make things worse. But he seems to have the technique down. A few runners wend screaming past us on their way down too. But we definitely took our time. It's a tough hike but well worth the effort.

Bella & Me on the summit

Chris & Diane