Elk Meadows

This weekend, we went mountain biking with Russ and Tonya here:



We set up camp outside Stanley Friday night and hit the trail Saturday around noon. There were some scary parts, but over all it was a lot of fun. The worst part for me was a downhill rocky part that went for probably a mile and a half. I don't really like doing things that may kill me and I definitely thought that that part could kill me. So I got off my bike and walked it, which was no big deal because none of us were in a hurry. It was nice to be on my first mountain biking trip with people who were so supportive and helpful and patient - and who were all at my relative level of experience.



One of my favorite parts of the trip was going through the meadow.



The Sawtooths surrounded us on one side and trees surrounded us on the other, while hundreds of grasshoppers jumped across the path in front of us. Another favorite part was seeing how high up we were; we had parked down next to Stanley Lake, but we were looking down at it from the top of the mountain! It definitely gave me a sense of accomplishment.



After five hours on the trail (which included a lunch stop, water breaks, walking from time to time and plenty of pauses for pictures), we were finally back at the parking lot. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a parking lot before in my life! We loaded up our gear and headed down to Stanley Lake to cool off. It was a cold swim, but it felt really good after a full day sweating in the sun and getting covered in dust from the trail.



All in all, it was a great, although exhausting, day. I don't know that mountain biking is the sport for me, but I would like to try more in the future - just perhaps without the patches of scary, downhill rocks.