Perfect in Pine Valley

Saturday we knew we wanted to get out, but we didn't want go too far, so Pine Valley was the answer.  It ended up being a perfect choice.  It was 68 degrees when we got there and the recent rain was still evident in the cool dampness in the air and soil.  We decided to revisit one of our favorite little hikes - we call it the waterfall trail.  It isn't a maintained trail and had many fallen trees, but it was as beautiful as ever.  We found some very ripe raspberries along the way and what a treat they were.  We followed the waterfalls past where the trail ends until it got to be more bushwhacking than fun and then came back down and ate lunch at our favorite falls.  

After that we went over to follow the White Elephant  Saw Mill trail for a while.  We went along as usual, took a nap at a great shady spot and then noted some pink ribbons marking the trail further up the mountain...and they kept going, and going and going until we peaked out after some pretty sketchy scrambling here and there in some very steep spots.  We were hoping it would top out into the Whipple Trail but again, it just kept going.  We had no more time or desire for the scrambling, so we had to call it a day as we were not prepared to spend the night up there trying to see where it came to an end.  We were quite relieved to get down from the high part and back to the regular trail.  A fun day in a beautiful place.  We topped it off with a shared piece of strawberry rhubarb pie at Veyo Pie on our way home!  Mmm good!