On to Iowa...

I’ve been trying to make the most of my last few days in Dutch…even if the weather hasn’t been entirely agreeable. However, I woke up today to a perfectly clear day with no wind and a strangely warm temp for the time of year…about 50 degrees. Then, I went to work and saw that we had about 5 patients on the schedule for the day…soooo I decided to take the day off (we were told at the beginning of our rotation that we were “fully expected to take a day off when the weather is nice” so we could enjoy the weather here.)

My roommate and I went on quite the hike (for me at least…still out of shape!!) to Ugadaga bay. Once again, I’m trying to upload pictures while I type, but my guess is I’ll still only get one or two. Once I get home I’ll add more!

To get to the trail head of the Ugadaga bay trail, you have to drive up Overland Pass, which we have driven over before. It’s a road that weaves nicely up the mountains and out into Summer’s Bay, another very pretty little area. The first part of the hike was pretty easy (it was about 2 ½ miles total to get to Ugadaga bay), and since it was fairly early, there was still a lot of fog in the mountains along the trail. I felt like I was in the Lord of the Rings there for awhile…which was pretty sweet. The trail weaved through a lot of the little streams that flow everywhere through the mountains here. Most of them are pretty small but a few require jumping over (or finding a good spot to walk over the rocks). On the one big stream we had to cross, I had to take off my boots and walk across. Nate always jumps them, but in my opinion I’d rather walk across and get cold feet then jump across and slip and soak my whole self.

After about an hour, we finally made it down to the bay. It was gorgeous! Since it was such a calm day, the water was completely flat… and the water is soooo clean here. You can seriously see about 20 feet deep, if not further. It reminds me of Hermit lake in Colorado only a lot deeper!! Once we got to the beach, we had about another half a mile to go to get to the “secret spot” a nurse at the clinic had told us about on our way out earlier. Someone built a little cabin out there in 2006 and has it stocked with a wood stove, some pots and pans, mats to sleep on, flash lights, various other camping things and…drum roll….KAYAKS! He built it out there simply for people to be able to camp out there, have a little shelter, and to use the kayaks. Pretty freaking sweet. And, had we not talked to the nurse on the way out, we would have totally missed out on it. Since it was such a nice calm day I was thrilled to get to take a kayak out on the ocean. It was by far one of my favorite experiences so far. It was sooo beautiful, and with the water being so clear, it was a bit of a once in a lifetime experience. I could have stayed out there kayaking around all day, but unfortunately, we had told the people at the clinic we would be back by four (since it is sooo remote out there and no cell service once you’re out of the main area of town, it’s good to have someone know where you’re going and when you’re going to be back in case something would happen). I wish we had given ourselves more time, but I’m sure my arms will thank me tomorrow that I didn’t do more kayaking...they are already a little sore.

Now…the hike back was a little bit of hell. Since we had hiked DOWN the whole way to the bay, we had a LOT of uphill on the way back. About half way back I was starting to question the whole hike as I struggled up yet another steep hill (even though it was totally, totally, worth it). If I could go at my pace it’d be a bit easier but I try to keep up with Nate without whining or sounding like I’m dying too much. We took a break at a beautiful waterfall about halfway back up. After we made it to our car, we finished driving Overland pass and made our way back home. My legs are killing me, but it was a great adventure!!

So I remember, things I need to write about yet are crab enchiladas, getting attacked by a crab and our hike to a shipwreck... and pictures once I have internet that actually lets me do things on it! (Edit: pictures added. I'm an idiot...all my pictures were HUGE files...once I went and sized a coule down they loaded in about 1/3 of the time...more later!)