91bravo
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2008
- Messages
- 29,116
Nice pics. A fishing rod would have made that trip complete for me!Head in the clouds yesterday. Weather forecast was less than ideal, but I just had to get out, so I decided to do a lake hike rather than a viewpoint. What didn't occur to me, however, was the fact that this lake sits near the summit of the pass, so the forecast for clouds meant that I would be shrouded with clouds the entire day. Still a magical experience though, and sure beats the hell out of not being in the woods. All in all probably walked around 11 miles or so, and spent about 7 hours from leaving/returning to my vehicle.
From the high point of the ridge I had to go over, looking down into the basin of the lake (note: this pic was actually taken on the way out, as heading in visibility was about as far as that first tree.
Ran across this little feller on the way down, who was screaming his face off at my presence. I don't speak pika, but the conversation seemed to go as follows: "HEY!..HEY!..HEY!..THERE'S A MOFO COMING! HE'S OUT TO GET US ALL!" His buddies chirped out from the crevices and were all like, "Alright man, we get it. Chill. You're just alerting him to our presence." To which his response was, "Nah dawg, I got this. If I just sit here frozen perfectly still I'm pretty much invisible to him. Humans are so stupid". That was my interpretation at least.
Down at the lake
After exploring for a while, it was pushing 11:00, so I decided to go ahead and break fast. Wild berries with a handful of almonds from my pack seemed a good choice
I thought with time things might clear a little, so I decided to head up the trail to a little lake that sits beyond this one. I've never been there before, and once I get an idea to go further I can never resist anyway. It required first going over another ridge, across a makeshift log bridge at the outlet of the lake, and about two more miles of moderately steep elevation.
It turned out to be more of a pond, but an enchanting spot nonetheless. The fog/clouds actually seemed to fit this spot well. Plus I had the entire place to myself (as I did much of the day). Well worth the extra trek.
Back down at the main lake. It cleared a little intermittently, but never for long. Oh well, just an excuse to come back soon.
