Hike #101 2020

November 7

For this hike we drove another 2.5 hours because our national forests closer to us are still closed due to fire danger. We got to the trailhead at first light and made sure to pack the essentials before heading out on the trail. These essentials included the dogs’ boots and Scott and I’s microspikes as we predicted the trail might be a little bit icy from compacted and melting snow from the previous storm. This was going to be one of our more difficult hikes that we’ve done because of all the uphill, but the views would be worth it.

The first couple miles we hiked through thick forest before it opened up to a meadow with a frozen pond. Zeus seemed content with laying on it all day if he could!

After a nice gradual incline for the first couple miles we eventually hit a mountainside that would require hiking (more like climbing) up switchbacks. The trail itself wasn’t very well defined or marked, but we knew we had to just keep heading up. We stopped several times on the way up to catch our breath and admire the views.

After the steep climb we made it to the lower of the two lakes. We took a break here before starting to make our next uphill climb which required us to put on our microspikes as the trail was icy.

We then made it up to the upper lake which was beautiful. The lake was partially frozen over and when the wind would blow it made the layer of ice crack which echoed on the surrounding cliffs.

After taking a nice long break at the upper lake we carefully made our way down the slippery slope.

We took a fire break road down instead of the trail as it was wider and the dogs could meander a bit more.

We hiked a total of 7.5 miles with 2000ft of elevation gain. This was up there for being one of the harder hikes we’ve done, there were a few extra steep sections.