Taking to the Hills (06-23-2012)

Hi guys, here are some photos I meant to publish ages ago.  According to Picassa they were taken on June 23, 2012.  These are photos of our first hike in the Alps and our first trip into Switzerland.  You will see we were a little under prepared for what awaited us out there.

We started the day around 7:00 AM where we met up with our fellow hikers and drive about an hour and a half across the border into Switzerland.  We must have looked friendly, because no one even checked my passport.  The weather had warmed up, but it wasn't super hot, so we were looking forward to an excellent day of hiking out in the sun...

You can see as we climbed higher it became less of the bright and sunny day we had planned for.

The Gentlemen: Augusto, Derrick, and Michael

The Ladies: Jennifer and Fabiana

Then we got to a point where we said, "Wait, is that snow? In June? Am I wearing only shorts and a t-shirt? Yes, yes, and more yes."

Got to love those summer snowball fights.

We climbed up to the area where we planned on having lunch, a frozen lake!

We were also hiking with a couple of families, and at this point the kids stayed behind, and only the serious hikers (like the Texans in tennis shoes and shorts) continued on into this friendly terrain.

Fabiana started passing out these hiking sticks as we began sinking down into snow that would come up to our knees.

Why did we keep going after the frozen lake?  Definitely should have stayed with the kids!

And the weather continued to deteriorate the higher we climbed.

We finally reached the top, or as high as we could go with the poor visibility.  By this point, Derrick and I have borrowed hiking poles, fleeces, wind pants, a hat and gloves from our fellow hikers.  One guy was super prepared, and even had an ice ax in his backpack, but thankfully it was not required on this trip.

The hiking survivors!

Don't worry, we learned our lesson and now bring many more clothes with us when we hike, and I even got my own set of hiking poles.  The poles are great, and they trick people into thinking I actually know what I'm doing out there. ;-)

Also in case you missed it, here's a link to an album I posted on facebook of photos of my trip to Lausanne,Switzerland with Derrick's cousins Candice and LaChelle.  Three Awesome Days in Switzerland