The long and short of it

The weather has been great this week; sunny, calm, and warm. Today hit 90 and it's supposed to hold through the weekend. After I got off work tonight I kicked back a little before heading out for a hike. I did some looking on the map and found what looked to be a nice trail on the south east side of Lake Coeur d'Alene that promised a great view of the lake. I planned on hitting the top of the trail around sunset.

As I started hiking the trail through the woods before I started climbing it was starting to cool off very nicely and it was nice and dark in the forest. I noticed many wild flowers blooming but at first didn't want to stop since I'd just started my hike. As I continued on though I saw many more flowers and the whole area was just so peaceful that I couldn't help but stop for awhile. After all, isn't the point of getting out to enjoy what's around you? Why should I pass up taking it in a little just because it's at the beginning of the hike?

Well, an hour after I started my hike I'd only made it about 1/8 mile down the trail and the sun had already set. I continued on up the hill/mountain a ways still planning to reach the top for a nice late evening view of a lake. A little farther up I couldn't resist stopping for a few more pictures and after that it was too dark for me to continue much farther.

I doubt I even made it one mile in the 2 hours I was out there. Sometimes you just can't beat a long, short hike