Spelunking in Idaho???

Friday afternoon, Russ got yet another invite from a co-worker and his supervisor to accompany them on a short hike up to the wind & ice cave in Darby/Driggs.  Ever the adventuring spirit, Russ told Sarah about it after arriving home from work and the two of them packed up for a hike the next morning.  Unfortunately, car trouble prevented the two of them from driving all the way to Driggs, but luckily the group was car-pooling and after parking the car at a nearby familiar spud shed to rest, they proceeded up the dirt road to the trailhead from the camp closeby.  They were told it was about 3.5 miles up to the cave, and were rewarded with beautiful rolling mountain scenery and pretty wildflowers along the way, but the kids who came along were getting too far in front of the adults.  Russ got separated from Sarah (as it was slow going for most of the adults and Sarah's shoes weren't exactly hiking boots her straps kept falling off) trying to keep up with the kids' high energy & watching out for their safety from animals and steep slopes.  As the trail began climbing switchbacks and getting closer to the cave the kids slowed down and the parents caught up.  The climb was pretty intense and at one of the waterfalls Russ even stuck his head in to cool off.  Reaching the cave, the whole group broke out their packed lunches and had a meal.  Russ & Sarah sat on a ledge and Sara commented to him "what's your shelf life?"  Russ replied "We're having a Shale of a time!"  Unfortunately Russ & Sarah forgot to bring their flashlights, but a passing returning hiker gave them theirs.  Climbing up into the cave among the dolomite & shale the water disappeared under the loose rock and the cavern narrowed to a small crawlhole.  It was apparent why the cavern was named "wind cave" - an icy breeze was wafting through like opening a freezer on full blast.  Sarah & Russ decided they hadn't brought enough gear to venture on through and would save the spelunking for another time when they returned more prepared with gear and supplies.  Sarah was also getting a slight headache due to the sudden change in temperature.  All in all, they began to note that they also hadn't fully prepared for a hike like this for some time and wanted to commit to themselves to get some advanced exercise before attempting a hike like this again.  Because of her shoes and dis-coordination (possibly also due to her headache) Sarah scared Russ in tripping over herself 3 times and hurting her knee and ankle on all 3 sprawls.  Luckily all she did was bruise it really good and scrape her knee a bit.  We were definitely sore once we got back, and Russ realized he was sunburned on his neck due to his forgetting to use the sunscreen he'd brought.

On the way home they stopped off for some much needed groceries to replenish their lost liquids from the afternoon's activities as well as get some supplies for their car's problems.  They stopped by their grandparents house (on Russ's side) but they weren't home so they left all the cupboards open (a family joke) and a funny note & a present for them.  Grandma loves to make cookies so they left a bunch of chocolate covered raisins for grammy to make cookies from, as if some visiting doormice left a trail of "doodies".