Looking for Louise

I'm so tired right now. I want to lie down and go to sleep. My eyes are so heavy, and my feet are too. We had a beautiful day today in Dubois, Wyoming. The sun was out and the rain stayed away until we stepped in the van.

Today we went to the Shoshone National Forest. Adam got to hike with us, too! It's really a special event. He's been off of work this week, and we've had a blast. We found a hike that looked beautiful- relatively short, and very, very near us. We decided we would try to hike up to Louise Lake. One thousand feet increase in altitude, moderately strenuous, slow hike. I definitely thought we could do it. Ryan and I are in pretty good shape, so I thought "Let's go for it!"  Well.... let me say this.... It's didn't end as beautifully as I just wrote.

Nope. Not at all. We started out the right way... The Whiskey Mountain trail.... until a split, then we stayed on that trail. Well, we summited the mountain about 6 miles later. JEEZ. One little turn! We should have turned on to Glacier Trail. We didn't. We wanted that lake so badly, that we just kept going, and going, and going.... and no signs for Lake Louise, no signs for anything until we reached the top. I could feel the burn in my legs, my arms, my whole body. Not to mention that yesterday, I went for a run and did a really hard yoga session.  I was beat half way through... that's not good.  We chatted and took lots of breaks-- I was totally winded. Totally grasping for air... wanting to quit. Well, we did quit finally.  Ryan and I took a break right at the ridge, and Adam went up to take some better pictures.

We had ham on tortillas for lunch. Sad. I was running on E. We had fruit and plenty of water, but I burned some serious calories today, and I felt at the end of my rope at the top. I was spent.

Our little love, Ryan fell asleep in my arms at this time- she didn't whine once. She was such a trooper! She walked through snow; She walked through mud; She hiked up and down. She was an absolute delight today. What do you do when you realize that you've taken a wrong turn? I think its so frustrating to have a plan and have it change with no warning. Just at least a tad bit of a warning would have been nice!

Our turn around was so fast. Downhill works completely other muscles in your legs from going  up, but it's hard in its own way. We could see the van down below us a the parking lot, and step by step, we were approaching it. The reward... dinner awaiting us below. The only thing is that the first mile; it was a quiet walk... frustration sitting in that we never reached our Lake. Louise? Where are you?  Adam and I try to always have a good attitude-- even when things don't really work out.

On the way down, we remembered to look at what we had already tread. We looked to the South, and there, those beautiful Winds stand... canyons, snow capped, and majestic. They stood there for us-- in the sunshine for us to use our little disposable camera. (All of our cameras are shot. I'm waiting on one to come in the mail.)  It was unreal. The weather was cool. We had some snow falling from the top in to the desert like area that we were climbing.  We saw old snow around bases of trees, and we hiked through it.

It a wonderful feeling to overcome frustration. Even if it's just after walking for so long. We were frustrated, but we enjoyed our time together, and we never gave up! Really. We just went for a really long walk, and we saw something different than we intended, but hey, that's awesome too!

I think tomorrow is another fishing day. I am whipped.  Boy, howdy, whipped!

Last thing:
We didn't discover that we made a wrong until the end and a nice couple said, "Oh yeah, you should have taken Glacier Trail..." Will we try it again?