I woke up (relatively) early this morning, so I got up and
did the Avalanche Lake trail first thing. I was on the trail by 8 a.m., which I
didn’t think was all that early, but
it made a tremendous difference in terms of human presence. The other day, we
hiked it at about 9:30. We had lots of company – so much so that it was hard to
imagine a bear coming anywhere near the trail, despite all the warning signs –
and the lakeshore when we reached it was quite
crowded. Today, I didn’t see another person until I reached the lake, and then
it was only three people in a quiet group. So much nicer!
The hike itself was really lovely. I can go a bit faster on
my own when Frank’s knees are tucked safe in bed, so I covered the trip up to
the lake (2 miles) in a little less than an hour. With no crowd on the trail,
it seemed much more possible – even likely – that I would cross paths with a
bear today, but I did my responsible best to avoid it. I followed ranger advice
and made a fair bit of noise on the way up, clapping and calling out
periodically. The only wildlife I am aware of scaring off was a chipmunk;
neither of us had realized the other was there until I made noise.
This side of the park is essentially rain forest. The mosses
and understory are stunning.
But the really breathtaking views are off the surrounding
peaks and cliffs. Rangers typically don’t cut down trees to provide good views,
but you can still find some that aren’t too blocked off by trees.
The lake was so different from the other day when we saw it
in full sun. Today, the sun was behind this knobby peak, not yet shining down
on the entire lake but sending all this “god-light” streaming down over it. My
pictures are pretty, but they really don’t do it justice. If you click the
photo to make it bigger, you can see the towering waterfalls that come down the
cliffs and feed the lake.
I had carried up an emergency blanket with me, and I wrapped
up in that and sat by the lake waiting for the sun to rise over the peak.
Chipmunks were running everywhere, not much bothered by me or the other human
visitors. When nobody was looking, I tossed out a couple of peanuts so I could
get a picture of this guy:
While I was watching him, I sensed motion beside me and
looked over to discover another chipmunk trying to shimmy his way up the peanut
jar. I was too slow with the camera to capture that, but I lured him back and
got this shot:
The transition from Avalanche Lake to Avalanche Creek is
marked by a huge deadfall. Without putting too
much faith in Nature’s construction, I made my way out onto it. This is the view
down the headwaters of the creek.
On the trip back down, I encountered dozens of people making
their way up. (I’m so happy I was ahead of them!) I also met this lovely lady.
Do you see her?
She led me down the trail for a couple of minutes, not at
all concerned that I was following her about ten feet back.
I felt like a medieval knight following the white hind. It
just figures the hind I ended up with was brown instead of white, a doe instead
of a stag, and suffering from a distinct case of flatulence. But it was still
really cool to have her as my hiking buddy.
With the sun over the peak, the creek’s colors were coming
alive. This is the gorge that is the spectacular start and end of this trail.
Feeling energized, I tacked the Trail of the Cedars loop
trail onto the end of my hike, so my total distance was five miles (13000 steps
on the Fitbit). I loved every minute of it!
