Today was a hiking day! We all slept pretty well after our long travel day yesterday! After breakfast, it was off to Kaiteriteri Beach to board the water taxi that would take us to the start of our hike. The weather forecasted a bit of rain and wind so the seas were rough! Almost all of us got wet just walking to the boat! Liam loved riding on the boat and bouncing on the waves!

We dropped off Grandma and Grandpa Barnowsky at Anchorage Bay and the rest of us headed up to Bark Bay. Being low tide, the Barnowsky's were able to cut across a lagoon from Anchorage to Torrent Bay that shortened their hiking time by almost 2 hours as they hiked north towards Bark Bay. The rest of us hiked south towards Anchorage. When we got to Torrent Bay, the tide had come in and we had to hike around it. The whole trip from Bark Bay to Anchorage was about 5 hours long and over 7 miles with lots of up and down as we hiked along the coast line.

Kevin had hiked parts of this trek in 2005 as part of a J-Term course at Luther. Some looked familiar - especially the 47 meter suspension bridge! We were sure glad the sun wasn't out! Liam slept in the backpack for the first half of the hike and enjoyed signing songs and looking for birds on the second half! But his favorite part of the day was being back on the boat!

The seas were even rougher on the way home after hiking but Liam couldn't have been happier! He giggled and laughed and had the best time as we bounced on the 10' swells! The Barnowskys also took a water taxi back a few hours earlier than the rest of us and met us in Kaiteriteri! We all were tired but had a great time hiking today!

As we were preparing dinner back at the house, the rest of the luggage arrived! Everyone was happy to shower and get fresh clothes on! Tomorrow they expect 2-3" of rain and even higher sea swells so kayaking might be off the table! Regardless, we'll all sleep well tonight!

Kevin