Sledding. SLEDDING?!?

Sledding you ask? Well, I'll get to that. Huck Finn would agree with me when I say that a planned adventure is no adventure at all. The adventure is what you didn't plan! And that's where we found ourselves this weekend!

Last weekend, Allen (a co-worker) and I attempted to hike to the Darby Wind Caves. Although the description talked about frequent afternoon thunderstorms and "competing for space with lightening and waterfalls", it didn't seem like a likely problem from sunny Idaho Falls. However, no sooner had we turned onto the dirt road leading to the trailhead, it started pouring. While we were prepared with appropriate rain gear, and thinking it wouldn't much matter once we got to the caves, it was the lightening striking the mountainside we intended to climb that made us nervous. Allen assured me he was quick, but sidestepping a bolt of lightening at 3.0 x 10^8 m/s was outside his capabilities. After a short nap in the car waiting for the storm to pass (it didn't), and after assuring Allen that bears couldn't open car doors (apparently the thought was interrupting his sleep), we decided to call it off and head back to sunny Idaho Falls.

Fast forward to this weekend, we tried again, but this time included Ryan (another co-worker), Tyler (his brother) and Nicole (a relative to somebody I'm sure), statistically reducing our odds of getting hit. Right by the trailhead we disturbed a large moose, but continued on a relatively easy hike, well... until we hit snow. I'll let the pictures tell the rest:
A scenic mini-waterfall along the trail, and our first signs of snow.
Joe in the weightlifting competition.
Tyler and Ryan in the not-so-synchronized jumping competition.
Ryan in the "I tried to do a 360 and got stuck at 60" aerial competition.
After hiking a little further, I couldn't resist "skiing" down this little hill...
...and neither could Nicole. But after a few treacherous climbs up snow covered hillsides (and by snow, I'm referring to three feet of it), we got a glimpse of the cave entrance.
The cave entrance... with a waterfall at the mouth of it. Hmmmm. Not wanting to go home disappointed, we slugged our way over to the entrance (where the snow was well over our heads) to look for a way in.
Looking back, there was a great view...
...but as you can see here, the water was too fast, too deep and too wide, and the rocks too slippery at the cave entrance.
Here's a picture showing the mouth of the cave, with water running out and the larger waterfall just downstream. So, we turned back. Going down proved much colder and wet... but fun. As we slipped and slid down the mountain, we got to an open hill and decided it would just be easier to slide down on our bottoms. Well, about the time I got to the bottom (soaking wet from the snow), I remembered the spare trash bags and rain poncho I had in my pack, which would make for great sleds.
So, while Allen assumed the "I'm tired and don't want to compete for space with lightening" fetal position......we slid down the hill. In this video I'm making good use of a free Niagara Falls poncho. (The videographer extends his apologies for the unsteadiness at the end, but remaining upright proved too challenging.)

So, despite not getting to explore the caves, we all had fun and made the most of yet another adventure. Enjoy and I can't wait to be home in a few weeks!