It isn't very often that my hiking group has a Saturday hike; they mostly hike on Sundays and as we go to church on Sundays and then try to spend the day quietly, we don't go. But this week Dave arranged a Saturday hike as we hadn't had a gentle midweek one. And I was pleased that dh agreed that he'd go. Dh hasn't hiked with me in a long time; he says that I am in too good a shape for him and he normally doesn't like hiking with other people. So I half expected him yesterday morning to say that he'd changed his mind but, no, he did come along and here's the

photo to prove it: The hike attracted a large group, larger than Dave had expected I think. In all, we had 27 people spread over 5 cars. As the parking lot at the trailhead was already full, it was quite the process to unload the cars and then have the drivers drive back along the narrow dirt road looking for a place where they could pull off the side. But it was actually accomplished with a minimum of fuss and off we went antlike along the trail. It was a gorgeous day: blue, blue sky, temp aroud 65º until we got down close to the stream and the actual waterfall where, as you can see from the snow in the next photo, it was still cold.

There were even smatterings of snow along the path and by the waterfall. It took us about an hour of leisurely hiking along a fairly level path--with occasional stepping back and forth across the stream--to arrive at the waterfall. Dave said it was about 2.5 miles to the waterfall; some of the group elected to continue along farther but that was going to mean some uphill climbing so 11 of us decided that we'd had enough for the day. So after a 20-minute break, we turned around and retraced our path through the woods. I got to be the "tail"--meaning I stayed at the back ensuring we didn't lose anyone. That enabled dh and I to amble along at our own pace although Claire, a young woman I'd met on a previous hike, dropped back and walked along with me, chatting about what she was thinking of doing with her life now that she'd graduated and had arrived in Santa Fe from Maryland. It was fun sharing ideas with her. I was also glad to be working my legs and glutes; I seem to have acquired two extra pounds these past couple of weeks. If they're going to stick around, I'd rather they did so as muscle.