(Not to worry, there is a hiking way up, it's not only for rock climbers :) So on the holiday weekend, we decided to head up there. Before leaving, we already had a small problem, and that was that our printer did not work. Yes, that is related to hiking. You see, we get our directions from the internet, and so we usually print them out so we know where we're going. But, since it didn't work, Martin just jotted some of the "main points" down. And away we went.
We spent quite a bit of time - about 45 minutes - just trying to find the trail head. Finally, I spotted some flagging tape. And what else could flagging tape mean, but a trail? And a trail it was - or maybe not. I don't think either of us have been on such a rough trail for a hike before.
But there was lots of flagging tape and it was going in the right direction - up the mountain. So we hiked. For about an hour and then we came the the base of the rock face.
We stopped for lunch, and then carried on. Unfortunately we ran stuck. That nice trail with so much flagging tape ran us to a dead end. So, after about an hour of trying to find our way up (and a little melt-down from me when we were climbing a part that I thought was too steep - a story in itself), we actually gave up on the hike. For this time. At this point, we were more determined than ever to go home, read the directions well and get to the top of the mountain some time soon.
Anyways, despite not getting to the top, we had a fantastic day. Justin took one short nap in the backpack, and was happy the whole day.
Turns out we should have taken a trail further up the road - sounds like a pretty uncomplicated way up. Now we know.
Oh yes, we did get a beautiful view of Needle Peak from this side. It's fun to think that we've been at the top of that!
