The Garden Walker

Another unstructured day here at the family gathering. Those who were hit by elevation adjustment are mostly online now.  I managed to get some additional sleep last night so I may be headed in the right direction as well.

The destination for some of us was Mohawk Lake off of Crystal Lake Road.  This is a rather strenuous uphill hike to some waterfalls on Spruce Creek as well as Mohawk Lake. The first two miles of the hike follow the 4-wheel-drive road, but the six of us piled in the Jeep, with Terry riding in the back and bumped our way up the road until it ended.  More gnarly driving with lots of boulders in the road and several deep washes to drive through.  Saved us a couple miles of uphill hiking, however.

We were not sure how much time we had as the forecast called for rain in the afternoon.  So shortening the hike by a couple miles would help in this department.

The trail is a steep scramble through the woods, so it will be good practice for tomorrow’s hike up Herman’s Gulch.  We were partway up one of the steepest sections when it began to rain.  We huddled under a couple of pine trees to put on any rain gear that we had along and to decide what to do from here.  Rain makes the rocks slippery and this trail is almost entirely rocks.  While we were deliberating, the rain turned to sleet and came down harder.  That kind-of  clinched the decision and we started heading back down.

A short spur in the trail led to a small waterfall and we took this spur as the rain had subsided. Shortly thereafter, the sun came out and we sat out on the rocks and ate lunch.  Beautiful falls, beautiful setting for lunch.

After lunch, it clouded over and began to rain. It poured rain for most of our trip home. We took a relaxing dip in the hot tub and then took it easy for the remainder of the afternoon.

After dinner we had a memorial service for Aunt Nancy.  We all gathered in the big common area downstairs in this building and Calvin led in a remembrance.

The service centered around Aunt Nancy as a garden walker.  Calvin used the story of creation, how God created millions of trees, including the one tree that He commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of.  Aunt Nancy loved walking through the garden of His creation, enjoying every one of those trees.

Many stories were shared.  Stories of Aunt Nancy’s faith, her frugality, and her friendship with all of us an anyone she met.  She truly was a special lady.

Afterwards we all discussed what time to leave on the hike tomorrow and then we all trooped upstairs and had ice cream and some raspberries that came from Aunt Nancy.