The End Is Near...

...of the pictures, not the hike.  About an hour before we finally reached the lower tram parking lot and happily climbed into our van, I became tired of everthing and put my camera away in my backpack.  So the pictures will end before our hike did.

Dark clouds were brewing on the other side of the mountain and beginning to come over the top.  As worried as a was about potential flash floods and lightning, I was thrilled at the prospect of rain and the cool relief that it would bring my scorched body and dry throat.  Stumbling along by myself I felt like someone lost in the desert without food or water hundreds of miles from civilization.

The last picture I took.  While rapidly losing stamina and hope civilization suddenly seemed attainable.  The tram station was still way out of sight around the mountain.  I seriously considered trying to make my way to one of these houses and begging for help or calling a cab or just jumping in someone's pool.  We had long since left the cool mountain air and I'd been out of water for about an hour.  Luckily about 20 minutes after this it started to rain and shortly after that I was reunited with both parts of my group as one had caught up to me and the other had lost the trail and waited for the rest of us to reach them.  The last leg of the trail was virtually nonexistant but we managed to follow it and finally reached our van.