The Hiking Trip... Literally

Living in Northern Idaho means being surrounded by mountains. Mountains to your left, right, front, back, down, up, do the hokey-pokey and turn yourself around... There's no way to escape the gorgeous, mountainous landscape.

With such a landscape, there's nothing more peaceful than spending time in it. The majority of people around here ride Jeeps, 4 - Wheelers, and dirt bikes up on the local trails. Another option to enjoy nature is to go hiking.

My yearly and most favorite hike to go on is a hike to Stevens Lakes, ID. This hike is an 8 mile, or 12.8 kilometers, hike round trip (4 miles up, 4 miles back). The past 2 years, I hiked this trail on sunny days, but this year I ventured off in the rain.

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The day started with my friend & I stuffing our backpacks with an endless amount of snacks for our upcoming journey. We packed trail mix, Chex mix, cashews, and crackers; not enough for a picnic, but just the right amount for snack breaks.

Driving on the mountain road, which lead to the head of the trail, was a bumpy ride.
...the wheels on the truck go THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD...
Our backpacks jumped around in the back seat while we jammed out to the country radio and hit numerous potholes. "Oooohhh, that one hurt." "OW!" "THERE'S A HOLE RIGHT... *THUD* there...."

Once we finally made it to the parking area, we hopped out of the truck and were ready to go. We walked confidently side-by-side, then not even a second later..."OH NO!" He looked back at me as I quickly picked myself up after tripping. I instantly realized hiking on a rainy day, in shoes that have no traction, was a terrible idea.

Less than 10 minutes into the hike, we could hear the sound of fast flowing water. I never remembered a waterfall being so close to the entrance of the hike, but low and behold there was a beautiful waterfall down on our far left. We climbed, more so slid on my part, down to the waterfall to get photos. I decided to walk along the wet rocks to take an aesthetically pleasing photo (pictured below). What I didn't expect was to turn around, slip, and almost fall into the water. "Strike number 2!" yelled my friend; this was going to be an interesting hike.

First waterfall of the hike.
The whole way up was challenging for the both of us. While he had the great traction that I was lacking, we both had trouble fighting the steep, muddy sections of the trail. In order to continue on, we had to use each other as leverage one step at a time. For me, there were many times I almost fell flat on my face, but that didn't stop me from pushing forward.

We came across a few more waterfalls that were completely mesmerizing. With waterfalls, you can always hear them before you see them and it's the best sound I've ever heard. The rushing of the water as it hits rocks, splashes against tree limbs, etc. One waterfall (pictured directly below) had to be crossed by walking along slick logs, which was a challenge for me. With every step, I could feel my feet about to come out from under me; this was a very unpleasing feeling. "Is this going to be another strike?" I thought to myself.

Crossing the waterfall on slick logs.
As we continued on, we lost the trail, so we picked a direction and followed through. Instead of an easy walk, we had to climb up and over rocks to make it back on the trail. The clacking of the rocks under our feet hitting those next to them, the movement of the rocks as we walked across them. All the sensations I was feeling was very worrisome, giving me the horrible thought that a rock slide could be caused at any moment, but it was all in my mind.

Balanced rocks that we found.
Now here's where things get extremely comedic...

We came across a 30 foot waterfall and knew we had to take a closer look.
The way down seemed easy enough until we both start slipping directly down, hitting limbs on small trees on the way. "OOOOWWW!" "UGH!" *SNAP* *CRACKLE* *POP* were all that could be heard. The sound of pain was soon replaced with joyous laughter. "That's strike number.....well I know it's a high number..." stated my friend confidently. Was I ever going to live this trip down?
30 ft (9 m) Waterfall
Finally we made it to the first lake and it was breathtaking. The majority of the snow was melted, but the water was still ice cold. Snow melts and runs off into the lakes, making the water fresh and freezing. BURR... It was definitely not a good day to go swimming given the temperature of the air, which was disappointing.


First lake 

Second lake
All-in-all, this hike has and always will be one of my favorites and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a little bit of an adventure. My only advice would be to wear shoes that actually have traction, or else you'll end up like me, haha!






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