Queens River Loop August 2019 - Day 6

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.

No bugs on this delightful lavender daisy.

Queens River Loop August 2019 - Day 5

This was a short hiking day. We were only going to go from Pats Lake to the other side of the pass. A couple of short, quick climbs and we'd be done for the day. We didn't exactly sleep in, but we didn't get up early either. We were going before the sun hit the trail, and it was nice being able to climb while the air was still cool.

We did hit the sun a bit when we got to Arrowhead Lake, and then again heading up to the pass, but there was a nice breeze, and the elevation made things pretty cool as well. We reached our campsite before noon. Usually, we camp at the lake at 8696, so named because our old topo maps have its elevation marked. That's also the second lake down from the pass - this time we were going to the third lake. 

There wasn't great camping at that lake. Adequate camping, yes, we made it work, but not something that I'd recommend. But it had its good points. There was good shade near the water to keep cool in the heat of the day. We were hard to see from the trail, so it was pretty private. 

We had a quite afternoon, relaxing and enjoying the sounds and smells of the wilderness all around us.

Ambrose is ready to head out from Pats Lake and get over the pass. 

We didn't walk far before coming on another tree problem.

One could camp here, but it is right next to the trail, so it isn't ideal. 

I managed not to get my feet wet on this crossing. 

I love seeing how the light of the rising sun changes the look of the land.

You can't see how the breeze rushes up around these rocks in a picture.

I still thought there would be snow on the pass since there was still snow.

Flowers and low water near the outlet of Arrowhead Lake.

A little finger sun-blocker to get the glare out of my shot of Arrowhead.

There were fishes in Arrowhead!

Such calm and reflective water.

And we climbed higher and higher.

And the views looking back got better and better.

I think about hiking along those ridges sometimes, but I really like sticking to trails.

One last look at the lakes.

No snow at all on these switchbacks :(

We did see a hummingbird, but it was too fast for the camera. 

Ambrose made it to the top of the pass.

And then we went back down the other side.

I had forgotten about this little tarn.

I loved the color on the first lake.

So much so I had to take another picture.

And these three intertwined trees were growing right next to it. They look like one should have killed the others off, but instead they all live practically as one.

Usually, we stay by this lake, but this time we were walking on by to the next.

Mount Everly looming over the turquoise glimmer of the lake at 8696.

Instead, we chose to stay at this lake, but first we had to find a spot.

And, it was warm enough and I was dirty enough that I decided to add this lake to my collection of mountain lakes in which I have fully submerged myself. I even got Ambrose to take pictures.

On my honor, I did fully submerge, even if he couldn't quite capture that exact moment.

Queens River Loop August 2019 - Day 4

We got up fairly early to make the most of the early morning coolness as we hiked out from Johnson Lake and rejoined the Queens River Trail up to Pats Lake. This was going to be one of our longer days since we needed to go down and then regain almost all the elevation we were losing.

I had had a headache the day before, and Ambrose suggested that we could turn back. I promised to let him know if it came back, but on this morning it was gone. Ambrose, however, didn't end up feeling so well. He's decided he no longer will drink sodas on the drive up to backpacking trips - and I'm going to hold him to that. Hopefully it will work out.

The day ended up being pretty hot, which I welcomed since it is must easier to walk through streams and get my shoes and socks all wet when it's warm out. We camped at the first spot at Pats Lake and spent the afternoon chilling out and enjoying the sounds of the wilderness.

Lovely Johnson lake in the morning.

The sun striking the ridge over Johnson.

There's Ambrose, going off ahead of me again.

I started trying using the Digital Microscope setting on my camera on the flowers, especially the tiny ones.

Making our way back to the main trail. 

The morning was pretty cool, especially before the sun got high enough to shine above the ridge.

There were still a good number of downed trees on the trail.

But also evidence of trail maintenance. There used to be a large log blocking this bridge. 

Unfortunately, even with the maintenance, we still ran into some rather large downed trees.

Like this one Ambrose is wiggling under.

The crossing of Johnson Creek was a bit different this year. 

Fallen trees made us take a different line across, and there was a big deep spot on that line.

Ambrose took his time on this crossing, and managed not to fall. 

It was good to see everything so green and growing.

But there was a part of the trail that went directly through the bushes. This is the trail, no joke, for about a dozen yards. If I didn't know where I was supposed to be going, I might have gotten pretty lost.

Time to start the switchbacks up.

The fallen tree trend continued up the switchbacks. At several places, we followed go-arounds, but this tree, featuring a magnificent spider web, stumped me. I tried going around it and ran into thick brush, so I sat on a rock and waited for Ambrose to catch up so we could find the trail together. And, as he walked up I glanced to my right and realized the go-around was in the opposite direction that I'd been looking for it.

We made it past the first round of switchbacks, but our climbing was not done for the day.

Ambrose was having a bit of a hard time. We stopped for lunch when we found some meager shade instead of waiting until the next good water crossing. He finally told me he wasn't feeling well, and I went into care-taking mode. I didn't range as far ahead, and I made sure he was drinking plenty of water.

Some years, there's a lot of water in this stream. Not this year.

We lost the trail again before the crossing, but it didn't take too long to find it because we were familiar with losing the trail near there.

I walked across and got my shoes and socks wet for the cooling effect while Ambrose went across on a log, and then stopped to wet his hat.

It's like two trees fell down for every one that got cut away from the trail.

I tried to imagine what this bowl looked like before the fire came through and left all these tree skeletons.

More pretty flowers.

The waterfall! 

Beautiful flowers below the waterfall at the crossing. I didn't need to get my feet wet, but I did so I could keep cool. This day got hot.

I love the purple monkey flowers. 

Those bushes are growing like crazy along the trail here, too.

A bridge of sorts across the muddy boggy section.

The skies were looking cloudy, but this bird insisted on posing for me before the storm.

The last crossing of Johnson Creek of the day - on the one before this, I actually got into the creek and let Ambrose use my shoulder to help him cross on a rather narrow log. This one we were able to rock hop.

We made it!

At first, I thought someone had shoved trash into this poor tree.

Instead, it was a Chick Tract in a baggie. I really wish whoever was leaving these up at Pats Lake would stop. It's not LNT to leave anything up there. 

And this fire ring really shouldn't be there, since in the Sawtooth Wilderness, fires should only be in fire pans or on fire blankets. 

But the lake was still gorgeous. I got in it to try and get the gunk out of my shoes, but that didn't work very well because there was a lot of gunk stepping in and out. 

I didn't see any fish, but I might have scared them away with splashings.

Ambrose chilling out now that we made it.