Alberta Falls/Mill Lake Adventure

On Monday morning all 38 of the Holwerda crew set off for a hike up to Alberta Falls. Little did we know what was in store for us later in the afternoon!! We hiked to the falls and enjoyed the scenery & fellowship, ate some snacks, and even a few risk takers climbed down into the falls! A bunch of us decided to continue on with the hike and go about 2.5 more miles to reach Mill Lake...


...We reached Mill Lake and soon storm clouds started coming towards us! We quickly decided to head back down the mountain so that we wouldn't get caught in it (or so we thought!). None of us were prepared for a thunderstorm..we were all in t-shirts & shorts b/c it was a hot day! As we were hiking down the mountain the rain started to pick up a bit and the lightening/thunder was quickly moving towards us! We reached a point in the hike where a bunch of people were taking shelter from the elements...not sure if it was the safest thing to do (hover under a huge rock...see pic below)...but we decided to do it too. We thought we could wait out the storm and stay dry under the rock....


...but, the rain started to pour and eventually a waterfall was created and we were getting soaked under the rock! Besides getting drenched the temperature was also getting colder. It dropped ~30 degrees. Now we were wet & cold. Not a good combo. Jaelyn started shivering and crying and a young kid (not in our group) gave up his warm sweatshirt so that we could cover her up in it. We were so thankful for this random act of kindness!! After waiting a few more minutes, we decided to make a run for it. We were getting drenched anyways...so we thought we might as well hike down the mountain & get to real shelter quicker. There was practically a river running down the trail, but we were able to make it down to the trail head.

Amazingly Jaelyn slept the whole way down the mountain! At first I was worried that we weren't hearing any sort of peep out of her...but then realized she was fast asleep. :) Marcus & I took turns carrying her down the mountain (3+ miles). We safely made it back to the trail head....cold & wet...but we made it. We striped Jaelyn down and dried her off in the truck & blasted the heat. Ahhh...the warmth felt so good. Next time we'll be prepared. Even if it's 90 degrees outside and blue sky we'll still pack rain gear and a sweatshirt! Or, better yet...we'll get off the mountain before the storm comes barreling through!