Today was going to be another short day, only much easier since it would be all downhill. We hiked from our lakeside campsite down to a riverside campsite and arrived well before noon, even taking a bit of a late start in the morning. Since it was such a short distance, we were able to take our time and enjoy the sights.
And once we arrived and got all set up, we just spent the day relaxing in the forest. We chased the shade and listened to the babble of the river and the whispers of the wind. We talked and we sat in silence, Ambrose looking around at nature while I mostly read my Kindle. Just a lovely, lazy day in the wilderness.
One last look at the campsite.
Quite a beautiful lake, even if it’s got no name.
Okay, even on this side where there wasn’t as much of a burn, there’s still downed trees.
And not a lot of shade on this side of the pass in the morning.
Ambrose coming down the switchback.
These switchbacks are pretty tight and pretty steep.
A nice little rock-hop crossing of the outlet.
Oh, yeah, just a 5 foot drop, no biggie.
There used to be a spring popping out of the bushes here below the trail, but I’ve only seen it as a trickle, or dry as it is now.
We originally planned on going to Everly Lake on this trip, but cut it out when we ended up taking too long on day 2.
First crossing of the Queens River on the day. Turned out to be a rock hop, yay.
The theme of downed trees continued.
No one camped down at the spot we call the horse camp.
Instead, we crossed the river on these rocks and found the spot that Bill and his friends had camped at on the Eclipse trip.
Holes worn in the rock by water.
Ambrose walking up to our campsite.
I went down to the trail from this side to confirm we wouldn’t have to recross the river in the morning.
Ambrose tried to stay in the shade.
Arbor Crossfit had a booty challenge for August, consisting of squats, glute bridges and lunges. I managed to do a few days worth on this trip, but I only made Ambrose film me once.
I started playing around with the digital microscope setting on my camera since I had plenty of spare batteries for this trip.
These flowers are so tiny that I didn’t even realize there were bugs on them until after I took the picture.
