Then, as we were climbing the last few switchbacks, it started raining at 12:20pm. This was definitely not a good sign. When we encountered another pair guy hikers who were coming back down…

…there seemed to be at least a half-dozen or more wasps or bees swarming about me. Apparently, my orange shirt might have attracted them as if I was a flower to them…

The long flat stretch of hiking that Julie and I typically took for granted on all of our previous hikes now didn’t seem to straightforward as I was carrying an extra 30 pounds on my back…

We followed this road until the pavement eventually looped into a little cul-de-sac with a picnic area, but then the road turned back up and there was no apparent trail to keep going…

I was a little disappointed that he didn’t mention our website, and the thought did occur to me whether I should tell him. But I wanted to ensure we stayed anonymous so I didn’t say anything about…

We did spot a couple of guys going the other way. However, their pants looked muddy and wet, and it made us wonder if we were in for something harder than we had thought going into this excursion…

So on this Labor Day, Julie insisted that we go out to a waterfall. I thought the idea was absurd since we had such a dry year and I was almost certain there weren’t any waterfalls worth…

I couldn’t help but think how Mom and I missed out when we tried the scramble but didn’t quite make it three years ago. Still, Julie and I relished…

It’s times like these where waterfalling truly is a gratifying family activity. It seemed like everyone here was having a good time…

it became apparent as we waited until about 9:15am that no HiPos from work were going to show up. I was a bit disappointed given how many other verbal commitments…

And so with that we finally completed our three-point turn and quickly tried to retrace back to the lower car park in search of this elusive parking spot…

As we got closer, it looked like someone was getting a citation. And when a cop handed a lady a slip that prompted her to say, “Oh my gosh!”…

And so it was. We unslung our heavy packs and called it a day. We were still probably at least 2 miles from Topsy Turvy Lake, but at this point, we were all exhausted and were ready to stop…

So that made for a pleasant feeding experience for the both of us. The only thing that made me a little nervous was a loud buzzing bumblebee that wouldn’t leave us alone…

The mother did warn me about some kids throwing rocks from the top of the waterfall indiscriminantly. So I considered myself warned…

But then with Climate Change, the June Gloom became May Gray. And now that it’s happening in April, I wonder what kind of name they got for it now?…

That meant it was 3 miles round trip, and when you add that with the 2 miles round trip of scrambling, it would be a 7-mile round trip affair!…

From the literature, we learned that they did clean up this trail from graffiti and transients as well as maintain the trail. Before 2001, this trail was closed to the public…

All we recalled was that the trail was paved and easy, and there was no reason why we couldn’t take Tahia in a stroller this time around when the time came. But little did we realize that…

The lady told him that it was 16 miles round trip, and that number alone made it seem like a day outing there was a bit ambitious, especially since we were at altitude…