It turns out that the kids needed to stop for many many rests, and our hike lasted more than an hour longer than usual.
Here's one of many hydration breaks on the way to the top. Its also the only picture I took of all 5 kiddos... What troopers they are, spending a precious October break day doing something the mom's wanted to do!
The most exciting part of the hike was awaiting us at the wind cave. You see, all along the trail we had been enthusiastically told by each person passing us on their way down, that a snake was up there! Since Sherree and I have only seen a couple snakes in all our years on this particular trail, we were quite excited to 1) be able to show the kids and 2) be warned in advance instead of stumbling upon it unexpectedly!
My camera was doing weird blue hue things the whole day... so I can't say I captured the actual colors of the snake... but I'm telling you, it was the prettiest colored rattlesnake I had ever seen! Almost greenish. Gorgeous! The poor thing was so cold it had barely moved at all from where the first hiker reported seeing it. To zoom in, click on the photo.
Being hikeractive in the desert means two things in the warmer months... Heat and Snakes. Can't wait for the cooler weather to arrive!
