After climbing one particular waterfall, the entire forest suddenly transitioned to zombie cedars and the sunlight filtered through the toothpicks providing a magical light. Rafee and I agreed that it felt as if we’d just stumbled into Rivendell!
I started downhill toward the parking lot, ignoring a few groups of people gaping at my running down the hill. Unfortunately the trail dwindled and soon disappeared before I realized that they weren’t surprised by my running but by my running down a dead end!