Woke to rain and cold and lots of rain. 39°.

Reasonable start time at 9:45 and 10 AM. Three levels of hikes offered. Jeff did middle level. Sharon did alleged 4 mile (5.5 on watch).

During dinner found out that the guides belong to HF Holidays, a cooperative that has been around since 1913. Hike leaders are volunteers but get room, board and a travel allowance. All the hotels are called houses, they own many, possibly hundreds , but they don’t advertise and they have about 45,000 members who pay 100 pounds a year.

Interestingly, one of the guides will be a client on the next hike that we are on.

We did two separate walks, when we compared notes, they seem very similar: roots and rocks, mud slippery mud, more slippery mud, rain, Sharon even got some hail. Sharon sang the Mud Song very quietly. The timing of Jeff’s walk was a little better. The rain started when we stopped to look at the mill and by the time we left the mill rain had stopped

after dinner, a presentation on the national parks