Counting Blessings: Naomi Peak

Today's Blessing #1:  Going Hiking

Since today was a holiday, Scott asked if I would like to go back to Tony Grove and hike to While Pines Lake...I guess you could say he was offering me collection on my "rain check" from our campout just a little over a week ago.   Of course I was totally for it!  Somewhere between then and now though our destination changed to Naomi Peak...after all, we hiked to White Pines Lake a couple of years ago and we've never been to Naomi Peak.

Our plan was to wake up early and arrive at Tony Grove by 8:00 a.m., but when we woke up at 6:30 this morning it was pouring rain.  Oh dear...were our plans ruined?  We hung around home until 9:30 or so and Scott kept checking his phone for weather updates.  It totally appeared to be clear in the vicinity of Tony Grove, so we decided to go for it.

We had rain all the way up the canyon but it turned to light sprinkles when we reached Tony Grove.  The sky was still quite overcast so we donned our rain jackets, grabbed our hiking sticks, and started out.

It was great hiking weather and we were pretty much by ourselves except for a few cows we happened upon along with chipmunks and birds.  We could tell it had rained but the trail wasn't bad at all.  Little did we know within an hour we'd be hiking in the clouds.  As we got closer to the peak our visibility diminished to about 20 yards.  And that beautiful view overlooking the valley we read about online was nothing but pure whiteness!  We made it to the top though and ate our lunch together and just enjoyed the peace and beauty of the mist surrounding us.

A Misty Throne

Lunch in the Clouds :)

Despite the clouds, it was a wonderful hike and as we descended the mountain, the clouds started to break so we did get to see a little bit of an awesome view.  In fact, it was even cooler because we got to "feel" what it was like to see ahead again and when you've been in a mist for so long that opportunity to see again really feels great!!  We decided next summer, during our family campout, we'll hike to Naomi Peak again and see what we missed!

Heading back down through the mist.

A Break in the Clouds!  We could see again!! :)

As we were hiking along I realized something...we started our summer with a hike (on Memorial Day we hiked to Box Elder Peak with Kelvin) and we ended our summer with a hike!  Honestly, I love hiking! :)