Wonderful Hike @ Swayback - 10/9/2012

Hike: Swayback Bridge Trail of Legends, Tuesday, 10/9/2012, 09:00-12:20CDT
Distance: 7 miles  Rating: 4.5/5
Difficulty: Moderate due to distance
Conditions: Just about perfect!  Glorious blue sky with a smattering of puffy white clouds.  Temps starting in low 60s working up to low 70s at hike's end.  Light, variable breeze.  Trails dry & in good shape.  Encountered one blow-down.
Thoughts/Observations:
Exactly what I needed!  The parking lot was empty when I arrived at the trail head and I only encountered one mountain biker at the end of the hike.  Except for the occasional sound of a passing car on the road and the whistle from Jordan Dam I was surrounded by the sounds of the forest.  My companions were the ubiquitous gray squirrel and his cousin the chipmunk along with some colorful passerines. The peace and beauty of the forest were palatable.  I stopped several times to just "Be Still and Know..."

6 Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. 8 "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. 9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, 11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. 12 "For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the Lord for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."
Isaiah 55:6-13 (NKJV)