We slept well and woke up about 5am and looked out the window. It was still dark but could see the outline of the amphitheater against the night sky and with many bright twinkling stars above. If only that image could have be captured with our camera! Only an hour later and just before the sun rose, we captured this image.

It was a promising start for a clear spectacular day.

We ate breakfast, then decided to try a relatively easy hike because of Virginia’s arthritis. I found a dead branch to fashion a hiking stick of sorts. We considered hiking to Tiger Falls, but that hike obscures the majestic view of the Amphitheater. Instead we decided to see how far we could go on the Gorge Trail. So a lunch and water was packed, and off we went getting started at 9:30am.

There were only a few others on the trail; mostly hikers that had driven up for the day. Saw a group of 13 that started just ahead of us, a runner in the late afternoon, plus a man from Swaziland and his lady friend. He was familiar with the Voice of the Church radio programs.

We hiked until noon and ate our lunch. At that point, Virginia decided that, although she would like to go further, she would have a hard time getting back. It is always harder going downhill with hurting knees and the return trip took over three hours. I helped support her down the larger ‘steps’ in the trail and we made more frequent rest breaks. She made it!

Back at the chalet, we ate supper, watched the sunset, and relaxed before finally calling it a day.