Hiking to Rainbow Falls

Tuesday
Unfortunately today did not go quite according to plan! It started off fine. Having read that parking at some of the trail heads fills up pretty early, we got an early start, and we’ were actually on the trail just before 9am, having parked in the additional parking, and even then taken one of the last few legal ones - people would park “creatively” and along the road as time wore on! The trail to Rainbow Falls is rated as moderate/difficult, mainly due to it being uphill all the way to the falls - elevation gain of 1600 ft! However, the trail is well maintained and not too steep, just a nice steady gradient, but I did require numerous stops for a breather! As you can see there wasn’t a great deal of water coming over the falls, but they were still impressive. We stopped and had a rest and a snack and then got up to head back - and that’s where things went awry. Roger has had problems with his knees in the past, years ago, having surgery on both for cartilage problems, but he’d been fine for years until we were in Arizona with Jen in March, when his left knee played up after a long hike, but after having an easier day the next day, along with rubbing some arthritis cream into it, recommended by Jen who’s a nurse, the day after that he was OK, and he’s been hiking fine back home in Ohio. However, when he got up again, he found his knee was playing up again. Fortunately, we both had our hiking poles with us, but with over three miles to return to the car, it was a long slow and rather painful hike back down for him. We had been planning another shorter hike to another waterfall, but obviously that was out of the question, so we returned to the cabin, and he had a soak in the hot tub, then rubbed some cream in, which luckily he had brought with him. He felt up to going out for a drive, so we returned to the Roaring Fork motor trail we had started in the morning, and finished it off. Another soak in the hot tub in the evening (for both of us!), then we’ll have to see how he is in the morning, but I think that’s put paid to any more strenuous hikes for him on this trip.
According to a search on the internet, the white blossom on the left is Mountain Doghobble, and the pink blossom is a locust tree blossom, but I’m open to correction!

Step count: 20,416