10:48 am - Arethusa Cirque trailhead

Hatches are elevated and we are preparing to move out.

Highwood Ridge is adjacent to our parking lot.

Anne Marie is our leader for today and is giving us our marching orders.

Marching on.

Our route resembles a flying kite.

The red trail line pointing down and alongside Storm Creek (thin blue line), is where we'll be having lunch. On our trip back down we will continue around the kite then re-connect with the kite string.

One of our frequent stops along Storm Creek.

Our lunch stop will be amongst those line of trees atop the ridge in the far distance which is the red point mentioned a few photos back.

Following lunch we will continue up the ridge to the left which is following along the top of the kite.

There are numerous stream crossings both going up and on our return down.

It should be noted that this is a loop trail meaning we will be going down by a different route.

Remains of a polar bear hide? Not really sure what this is.

Exploring the cirque bowl and discovering there is no tarn (small mountain lake) in the bowl.

Our group of thirteen having lunch.

We are at the red point of the kite.

From here we will continue ahead along the right side of the trees. It looks as if we will be descending from this point when if fact we will be traversing on a slight upgrade along the rocky scree.

But before that happens let's just chill and relax.

Another hiking group has just emerged.

Crossing the rockslide scree on our way down but still going up.

Not too long from now we will be entering the open meadows ahead.

Looking back.

I went a tad artsy crazy on this photograph.

Thinking back over my many years of hiking I do not recall such a twisted array of rock formations. It will be interesting to learn from a geologist's point of view how this all came to be.

This is for Thelma.

Getting back to the kite scenario we are almost at the opposite side of the kite to our lunch spot and will now start our descent, which to some will become a bit of a challenge.

Another view of our lunch spot and the opposite side of the kite from where we are now.

Highwood Ridge

Lots and lots of Indian paintbrush.

This trail all of a sudden becomes quite sloped and covered with loose soil causing our footing to be unstable.

Last Storm Creek crossing, and we are about 3/4s of an hour from the parking lot..