April 12, 2015
We woke up to sun, but it was still quite cool after the
clear night. We decided to take a trail which led to Sunday Falls and Surprise
Ridge. The trail started right from the campsite and we were in tall, wet grass
almost from the start. The waterfall was easy to find and nice, but not quite
as impressive as the one we had seen the previous two days. We had to backtrack
a bit after the waterfall in order to find the trail again – everything was
well hidden by the grass.
I think we were a bit tired, and we argued a bit as we
trudged through grass and mud. The ridge was – again – pleasant, but not too
impressive. The trail also led us to Grotto, a cave where we saw more baboons.
Due to my fear of baboons, we found a sunny rock for lunch instead. The rest of
the walk seemed like a bit of a chore, unfortunately, but our moods picked up
with some sugar and some mountain vistas.
We finished the 15 km quite early and made a little trip to the visitor center and the lake, but they had no ice cream and swimming was prohibited, so we contented ourselves with early showers and a relaxing evening. Now, it’s time for more stargazing on our last night here.
April 13, 2015
It was another cold night, but stayed in the tent until it
started to get quite warm in the sun, despite the noise from the birds. We did
everything a bit slowly in order to give the tent some time to dry, so we added
a walk to the cascades to our morning. It was already quite warm, so it was
nice to stay close to the cool water (and mostly in the shade).
After packing up everything and donating some excess food to
one of the guards, we started the drive to the airport. There isn’t too much to
say about the drive, even our stop in Heidelberg (an attempt to waste more time
so that we wouldn’t get to the airport too early) was almost a flop. Just as we
were giving up on the town, we found a little artsy store/café with tea,
chocolate cake, and earrings.
On the last (very busy) stretch of road to the airport, the
car got a chip in the windshield from a stone flying off a truck. Ironically
enough, we weren’t in a construction zone or on a horrible dirt road when this
happened, but just half an hour from the airport. Oh well…
We had another disappointment when we got to the airport –
the airline had split us up – but we eventually got everything sorted out. So,
now we’re just a few hours from Amsterdam, and the end of another fun and
interesting adventure.
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