Fossil Springs!

We had SO much fun in Fossil Springs! Even though the hike was much more intense than we expected and every inch of my body hurts now it was so nice to take a little day trip to some cooler weather and explore the outdoors... 

This pic is from the parking lot. Scarlet was ready to go! We used the big mountain in the background to measure how far down we were throughout the trip.

 The hike was 4 miles down and then 4 miles back up!

 Scarlet and me at the beginning of the hike. All fresh faced and excited. Wait until you see me at the end...

 We were worried about Scarlet's paw pads during some parts with the really sharp rocks so we carried her through those parts. She had it made!

 Getting pretty far down!

 Once we got close to the water, the trail pretty much ended and we just had to hike through rocks. NOT and easy task.

 The beginning of the springs... So pretty!

Poor Scarlet only got scared once. She didn't know where to go from this rock so we had to go back and get her :(

 Rope swing!

 The water was so clear. Scarlet loved it! We sat here to eat our sandwiches and get some rest after our 4 mile hike. 

 Ed on the rope swing!

After getting a little rest we hiked another half mile or so through the rocks to the big waterfall. I chickened out of jumping. I mean this waterfall was HUGE. I think I need to start smaller and work my way up! We did swim under the wall where the guy is to the right into the "toilet bowl". That was super intense and plenty of excitement for one trip. Once you get in there it's like you're in strong rapids getting thrown about by the currents. And, there is nothing to grab onto. The wall goes down about 5 feet under the water too, so I'm not going to lie, I was pretty terrified at one point. But, we both made it out and are glad we can say we did it!

Look closely at the top left you'll see a guy jumping! Crazy!

 After hanging out at the waterfall for a bit we decided we better head back so we didn't get into a race with the sun. We knew the up-hill hike back was going to be tough so we wanted to allow ourselves plenty of time. This picture is of one of the steep rocky hills after we climbed it. At this point, I was contemplating how I might could get an airlift out.

We took several breaks to pace ourselves. Scarlet was finally starting to get a little tired.

And, this is me almost done at the end of the hike... 8+ miles later. You can tell by my face here that I'm dying. Ed was a really good motivator, though. We actually did the up-hill 4 mile hike back in less time than the hike in. Less than 2 hours!

That pretty much wraps it up! It might take me a while to motivate myself to do it again, but I'm pretty impressed with us for making it! Now, I just need a massage...