The Broken Dog and Pissed off Friend.......

My mom and I started hiking a month ago, and our goal is to hike/snowshoe/cross country ski once a week to be one with ourselves and nature. I apparently (this I found out JUST yesterday) am weird for loving to exercise the way I do....hmmm. So my Mom went to Barnes and Nobles and bought a hiking book for the Reno Tahoe area. So far we have done Ophir Creek Trail (Davis Creek area) Thomas Creek Trail (Arrowcreek) Mt. Washington (Plumas National Forest) and yesterday was Bear Lake Loop (Graeagle, Ca.)Yesterdays hike said 3.4 miles of moderate and scenic hiking.......I think that means if you stay on the trails that are in the book. Well who needs a book with memories such as ours, plus it is an adventure, right? We were supposed to loop around 4 lakes, Little Bear, Cub, Silver and Round. Only we kept on going, as the hike progressed into the most difficult hike so far, (and we brought a newbie, Cheri along since it was her first time we thought this moderate hike would be perfect to break her in) basically rock climbing, we came onto Long Lake. As my Mom said, "We should have know when the man we ran into said 'Worth the hike isn't it? No you don't want to go that way.....you want to go back around this way. Well ok, I am going this way, you girls have fun...' then split quickly." As we continued onward, I mean upward.....it got more and more difficult. Then we started to see signs that said 'Pacific Crest Trail' and 'Mt. Elwell'. Signs are a good sign right?
Cheri started to question my natural ability for finding our way back.....I assured her she did not need to be concerned as sometimes these trails can be deceiving and we always find our way back. After around two to two and a half miles of climbing up, and quite a few rests (photo opps.) I told them to hang on and I would hike further up and see where the trail was heading. At that point I came down and told them that I thought maybe we should turn around since there was a guy in Leiderhossen's (sp) who didn't speak any english but I think he was asking for my passport. So we did turn around then found the same sign we had found before that said 1/2 mile to Round Lake........why didn't that make sense before? I don't know. Onward soldiers. We are now 4 miles into our 2-3 mile "moderate" hike. Why is it when you are hiking, you are always hiking uphill? Even on your way back? Does that happen to anyone else? Cheri is now not speaking to me and she has sunglasses on but I am pretty sure she is glaring at me...... We continued to hike up, found an old mining camp that we were sure was a plane wreckage..and the dogs dug for buried treasures which gave us some time to get water, rest and have a snack. Eventually we came to the top of the crest and started to head down, which seemed like it was taking a lot longer than we had anticipated that could have just been us because we were all exhausted, but an hour later, we came to where we had started. Luckily there was a map so we could track were we had gone and found that according to the legend, we went approximately 8 miles and were heading towards Alaska. My Timex watch that Jay bought me last Christmas doesn't have a pedometer, (I need to use Jay's I think) but it tracks your heart rate and it said I burned 1327 calories. That is more than most people burn in the gym for the week! We will continue to hike weekly, even thought Dyna has thrown up on two of our hikes (sorry Chrissi) and Raider was limping last night (I think he pulled something jumping out of the car at my Mom's house he is better today) and Cheri said she will go with us again on Monday, even though
in the car, she admitted to both of us that at one point, had she been able to bend over and pick up a rock, she would have thrown it at the back of my head. But she completed the most difficult hike for us so far, and my mom and I are a month into it on top of an exercise program. Good job Cheri. Hope to see you Monday, 9:15 for the Graeagle Creek Trail, 4.4 miles of "moderate" hiking..........yeah, we'll see.............