We went out on a 3-1/2 hour hike today to a local lake which about 1/2 hour from home. This lake has paths all around the lake shore and also many more higher,very steep and much longer trails that rise to almost 4000' above the lake shore in a very short distance. The longer trails are very rugged and remote and can take 10 hours or more round trip in good summer weather. You need to be in excellent physical condition and well prepared to spend a night out on these trails as the weather can change dramatically. Although the lake itself gets a lot if use, due to the these trails being rugged, they do not see a lot of use in comparison.

These long trails though accessible and can be hiked in winter, it is not recommended. When were there earlier today, we stuck to the lower trails as the upper trails are extremely icy and not what I would call safe.

In the below map, the brown swath on the right side of the lake is hydro electric lines and the white line is a closed access road. We were hiking on the trails on the other side of the lake and at the south end also.


View looking north from the boat dock. There is good and plentiful trout fishing in this lake. The biggest I ever caught was 2 lb, 6 oz. In the summer, this lake is a very popular day use area and there is also a nice beach just off to the right of the photo.


The water in this lake is crystal clear all year round. The brown and green reflections in the water are from the trees on the shoreline.


I mentioned moss yesterday in another post. There is plenty of it here.


This photo is taken facing north and is at the very southern end of the lake. There is a floating foot bridge here that crosses the lake. The water here is shallow enough to slightly ice over.


Looking east across the south end of the lake. As you can see, there is not much snow on the mountains for this time of year.


Last photo taken is looking south.

Wow! That's a lot prettier than the snow covered decidious forest I was in last week. Didn't even bring my camera, figuring it'd be just brown or white.

Looks like a great place any time of the year. When are you hosting the ETS get-together?

Not sure I could pull something like this off...If any it would have to take event so as not to interfere with the monthly " Lets talk about and bash Bear Grylls" posts and threads here...

Still VERY GREEN with envy....

Wow, that looks like it was great! I barely finished my "honey do" list today, and it's 10:30pm... no hikes were on the horizon for me this weekend, I was surprised my most merciful dear sweet honey even allowed me to take an hour for church this morning. Actually, she probably just didn't want to reach into her wallet when the basket came around, so she took me along for ATM duty... That's all I'm good for, and I think my teenage son thinks the same way

When I first saw your post, before I scrolled the window, I only had the top part of the first picture on my screen... if you only look at the very top, with the stars in the background, it looks like you might have been hiking at Tranquility Base...

Yeah, or the Himalayas! Very beautiful. And really nice photos, too! I really dig that moss photo. Looks good enough to eat!

Don't get too green yet. We made a commitment that this year that every weekend we get at least one hike in. This weekend was even better, I got a solo hike yesterday and a family hike today. I'll keep posting photos as we visit different trails and areas.

I have some photos from last weekend that I still have not posted, I'll try and get them uploaded tomorrow.

Google Earth is great!! We use it all the time to print maps of different areas that we plan to visit. With these Google maps, topo maps and a compass, there should never be an excuse for getting lost....

I live in an area that has rocky's.......

you know, the boot maker....