NOV 30

On the first trip to HCSNA, we only saw about half the park and Dale wanted to see the other half.  Ted was able to make it to this trip and promised that if there were fish, he was going to catch them (and even showed up with his "Fish Fear Me" shirt).  Once again, we were faced with a high likelihood of rain. 

On the drive to the park, it sprinkled on us a little but it was nice enough to let up some once we got to the park.  After parking, Ted with his bad knees decided to take the shorter route to the campsite.  Dale and I explained to Ted what he had to do to get there and we set off up a steep path.  After a difficult climb, we descended to where we expected to find Ted.  Unfortunately, Ted wasn't there so we marked the ground so he would know what direction to head.  After another mile or so of hiking, we came across another trail intersection that we thought we already passed.  After reassessing the situation, we realized we told Ted the wrong directions on getting to the camp site (we blame the poorly marked trails).  We just hoped he could manage to use a map and compass.

When we finally showed up to the site, we found Ted waiting for us.  He obviously found the site, but did so only after going down the wrong trail and almost walked clear out of the park!  The weather still involved wet stuff falling from the sky but we were lucky enough to have a cover that allowed us to play some cards and enjoy the night.

The next morning, Dale and I went for a hike while Ted stayed behind.  We made our way to a scenic outlook, but as we continued to ascend, the visibility continued to be reduced by the fog.  By the time we made it to the outlook, we had a visibility of about 10 feet.  To say the least, it was a little disappointing.  On our way back to the site, we passed a group of campers heading towards our site.  Luckily, we had the area pretty staked out and the group (after discussing it for half and hour) decided to go and find another site. 

With a few hours of dry weather, we finally were able to get a fire going.  There was a burn ban, but decided with the rain, we would wouldn't accidently burn the place down.  This was actually the first trip we were able to have a fire, and it was quite nice.  We just relaxed around the fire and teased each other.  Ted would say things like my shoes looked like bowling shoes (despite not looking anything like bowling shoes) and I told him he better go catch the minnows in the pond (since they were the only fish in the park).  I guess the "Fish Fear Me" t-shirt didn't apply to minnows.

Type: Out-and-back
Campfires: OK
Trailhead: Google
Trail Map: link

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