fall art hike 2015

What do you do when you plan a hiking trip and it rains for weeks on end?  What do you do when the night before the hiking trip you get sick?

You go hiking anyway.  

 We had tons of students sign up to tag along on my hiking trip this semester.  Lots of new people planned to go and the weather only kept a few away.  G and the kids were planning to go but the sickness swept through our last the week prior and dragging everyone out in the rain didn't seem like a good idea.  

 That's the group at Hooker Falls at the start of our day.

In a somewhat clockwise manner around my head we have Jamea, Cessquatch, Katertot, Chelsea, Sean, Sebastian, Kristen, Elizabeth, Laura, Oscar and Lindsay.

 Almost everyone but me had a giant camera and all those photographers had to get their shots.  Oscar broke the rules to get this one.  I fussed at him.

 Cessquatch, Sean and Katertot were our returning alumni for the trip.  Because they know how to have a good time.  This is what happens when you tell them to pose.

 Triple Falls in the background.  The rain was nice enough to hold back and the temperatures were in the upper 60s all day.  It was a perfect day for a hike.

 Cessquatch tells me that at this very spot, the lady from the Hunger Games movies did something in the filming of the movies.  Cessquatch briefly became Catnip Evergreen and posed for this historic shot.

 At the far end of our out and back hike was High Falls.  The rains for weeks had the water raging over the rocks.  The mist from this one was like a driving rain.  

 I donned my rain jacket for the first time to get close to the base of the falls.

 Lindsay fell and had to walk with wet foot all the way back.

 This was Jamea's first hike with us.  She seemed to enjoy herself.  She also tried to push me over every cliff we came to.

 We had lunch at the base of High Falls and then headed back down the trail.

 The trail had some muddy/completely submerged areas but we managed to move through without losing anyone.  

 Sean's umbrella came in handy for standing under the waterfall.

We always find a way to leave the Mighty S on our hikes.  The fall foliage provided this opportunity.  Katertot and Sean displayed their ultimate coolness by wearing their Sculpture shirts.  Well done guys.

 Just as we approached the parking lot again, it started to drizzle on us a little.  Even that didn't keep this group from wanting to do more exploration.  I was beat after a long night and was ready to find a nap.  Everyone else drove over to Caesar's Head to take more photos from the overlook before heading back to civilization.  Coolest group of art majors around.  Next semester we'll do it again.