Columbia Mountain is evil.

Went on another hike yesterday. That made a total of 42 miles in one week for me. Whew! No wonder my legs feel like rubber today...

Kyle and I attempted to get to the top of Columbia Mountain, which is just outside Columbia Falls, which is the next town over. It sits between the town and Hungry Horse Reservoir, and is apparently one of the most strenuous day hikes around. Of course, we didn't find that out until after we suffered through it.

The trail is made up almost entirely of switchbacks. If I never encounter another switchback it will be too soon. (Okay, not really, but holy uphill there were a ton!) We trudged on for 3 hours going straight up, until our legs finally just gave up on us. That's like being on the stairmaster for 3 hours -- it sucked. We didn't quite make it to the top, but both of us were weighing the end and it just didn't seem to make up for the means, so we stopped and turned around. It was frustrating enough to keep seeing the ridge at the top but not feeling like you were getting any closer to it.

So what comes up must come down, and we certainly did. It only took us about 2 hours to get down but it felt like an eternity because our legs were already tired. We jogged quite a bit because it was easier than trying to slow ourselves down but the rock underfoot was loose so we slid several times. I was never happier to see my car at the end than at the bottom of the trail.

Check out the rest of the pictures here.

So how did we recover? With a fabulous meal on the patio at the Lodge, watching the sun set behind the lake, listening to some live music. Perfect way to end the day, even if we did just fall asleep as soon as we got home!

Today, we continued the recovery process by taking a dip in Murray Lake, just a few miles outside of town. What a gem of a spot! The water was deep and bright blue, pretty darn clear, and not nearly as cold as Whitefish Lake. Not to mention there were only a handful of people on the entire lake so it felt nice and secluded. Definitely going back on hot days to cool off and catch some sun.