Weekend Camping picture dump - Friday thru Sunday
Noonish on Friday the dog and I headed north. We got to the path that leads to the parking area but found it impassible so had to park at the bottom. We donned our packs and began the hike in. Sometime before a couple of people had driven gators or something similar in so I was able to follow their tracks until we got to the normal parking area. Instead of following the tracks I took off on the normal trail and rather quickly found myself post holing in 2 foot deep snow.
It was about a quarter mile thru the trees and the deep soft snow but the drip lines of the trees was at least a bit harder and easier to walk on top of.
We made it out to the open where the snow was a bit harder. It was warm so the snow had softened during the day but I didn't sink like in the trees.
The old homestead has been ransacked of some of its nicer looking boards. The people in the gators likely did it.
The path leads back into the woods but their tracks wwwere there for all but the last 100 feet to the cave.
The cave seeps water down half the underside but a good fire going does a nice job of drying it up. The sleeping area is far enough back that the water misses it.
The lake is frozen solid and thick. I could see where the gators had been out mashing around on the ice so I knew it would be thick.
Since I had post holed my way through the snow my socks and shoes were wet so I spent a bit of time drying out next to the fire. I collected more wood up till dark then kept the fire going nicely until I passed out bundled in my sleeping bag.
Next morning we went and wandered around the lake. I started an event on my watch and we walked the circumference of the lake from the cave and it is just on a mile loop. That is on the ice though and on the land would be a bit longer.
On the shore is the fish station where they dump fish into the lake. There is a nice big pump in the shed and then 2 concrete boxes connected with a baffle so the fish don't get through. There is a slide type thing that goes down into the lake. They used to use the lake for stocking fish for other lakes but have not used it in some years now.
We kept wandering the lake as the sun came up over the mountain. It was a nice and bright sunny day but there was a cold wind blowing most of it.
Sitting on a log on the shore in the sun I saw these shells from some insect that molted and flew away.
Playing with dried cat tails to see if they will weave at all. They were a bit too brittle since they were dry. Pretty strong considering though.
Jax honed in on something in the ice by the reeds and when I went to look I found this piece of a turtle shell poking up.
We spent an hour or so while it was warm sitting in the open area on the hard snow basking in the sun and looking at the wall.
We went for a little wander up to the base of the wall. In the evening before I had heard something break free of the wall and trundle down. I didn't hear it make noise like rocks hitting at the bottom. When we got to the base of the wall I found a smallish rock that had broken free of the face and landed in the snow at the base.
Sat on a log in the sun and watched it go down over the ridge. The shadow crept across the lake until it passed me and began to climb the wall behind me.
Jax attentive to the sounds and smells around him.
The cracks in the ice were wild and the ice made base sound booms when it expanded and contracted. The cracks went straight in and I could see over 6 inches down many of them. The cracks run off in all directions and intersect in lots of places.
The evening was spent by the fire drying and warming socks for the night.
This is a pano of the area from the south end of the lake taken Sunday morning.
The trees are covered with fungus and there are some pretty big ones. The largest I saw was about the size of a soccer ball, squished.
Tromping through the trees aiming for a flat looking area I could see through them I came upon the deer leg. Just it, no other carcass or anything anywhere nearby. Mountain lions and wolves are in the area as well as occasional bears so who knows. I couldn't find any prints around it either.
We had a bald eagle hanging out in the trees by the lake. It was a big bird with a really wide wing span.
Mid morning I packed everything up and cleaned up the cave. I never use any of the wood we have inside as I always forage for wood to burn in the forest around, and in fact I try to leave more wood each time.
On the hike out we came across this dead gopher lying on the snow. The only thing I could think is maybe a bird dropped it. Then a little ways further was a piece of a snake in the snow that Jax rolled on.
The old car by the homestead is pretty cool. It has suicide doors. I can't find a make or model on it anywhere. It's been in this spot for a long time though.
We hiked back out and through the post holing then back to the truck before noon. I wanted to hike out when it was still cooler and the snow hadn't had a chance to soften. Once loading up we stopped by my friend's house for a bit then was home by 2:00pm.
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Gab
Sounds like a grand weekend! You had beautiful weather.
You got some great photos there. Glad you and the dog could get out and camp again.