Into the Lost Valley

After exploring the Ice Cave we headed down into the valley that the 'dry' run empties out into.

The owners of this land call it the Lost Valley. We call it the Back Valley as it as furthest back.
I like to think of it as my 'Secret Valley'. There was a time when the cattle lived on this land.
At that time there were cattle trails that made riding through the back valley fairly easy.
Hiking was always an issue.
The creek used to twist back and forth like a snake gone crazy. Some of the crossings were wide and some were very deep. It was a great place to take a young mule to get them used to water.

Several major floods have changed that. The last ravage was in September 2015. The creek is fairly straight now and in places very wide.
I still love making it a destination. It is a hard hike but worth every step.

Here is one of the places that Creek Leaping becomes a real skill to have.

When we got to the 'Lost Valley' we all sort of separated and explored on our own. Daryl went his way with his camera and tripod.
The girls investigated tracks they found with Amanda.

I tried to take some Ice Finger shots.
I have no idea why I started calling them Ice Fingers. But that is what they look like!

The hike back towards home was not as exciting as the hike out.
We climbed out of the valley in what seemed like a never ending upward haul.

We followed the snowmobile in a westerly direction to get to the back of my property. Then straight down into another steep valley.

I think Evie looked at our 'ridge' road that so easy this morning, looked as if it went on forever...and groaned.

I think we were all tired.
There was a faint burning sensation in my legs. We had all pressed on pretty hard through the snow which had made the walking a bit harder.

The only ones who seemed not to be bothered was Morris and Scout. They trotted ahead towards home.

As we dropped back down towards the house we met Rich who was standing next to the back of his truck.
He'd done the evening chores and welcomed us home with, "Gee! I was getting afraid that you guys weren't coming back?"

Wet and tired the crew went into the house and discarded their wet clothes. Daryl had to put the finishing touches on the pot roast he'd been cooking all day.

The girls announced that they probably wouldn't be up for the scheduled night hike.

We got ready for supper.
And prepared for our next outing.