|
For those of you who are wondering, it's pronounced muh-KELL-um-nee. At least
that's what the rangers tell me.
Jean and I had planned to leave after work on Friday, but work forced us to
abandon those plans. Rather than leave late on Friday night, we decided to wait
until the next morning.
Saturday morning we left just past 9am, made a stop for breakfast, and reached
Woods Lake off Highway 88 just after 1pm, after about 3 1/4 hours of driving.
I'd been to Woods Lake before, on a hike up Round Top, and had read good things
about the campground. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, the campground
was full.
We turned around and considered our options. There are lots of campgrounds in
the area, and we settled on going toward the Blue Lakes. After driving over
Carson Pass and continuing on Highway 88 for a few miles, we made the turn off
the highway. The sign said 12 miles to Lower Blue Lakes. What the sign doesn't
say is that the last 5 of those miles is unpaved.
We'd been on rough roads at Jennie Lake earlier in the month. While the road
to Blue Lakes isn't as bad, it has the unfortunate feature of being much
longer. I don't think my car has ever gone through such a beating before. We
desperately need to get an SUV. In fact out of all the cars I saw on the
unpaved section of road, I don't recall seeing anything other than trucks and
SUV's.
Mercifully, the road becomes paved as it turns into the campground. We arrived
at about 1:45pm, just in time to pick one of three remaining sites at Lower
Blue Lakes campground. It's a PG&E campground, with additional campgrounds
nearby, including Upper Blue Lake up the road. We had no trouble picking a nice
site at Lower Blue Lake, though. After setting up our tent, we had a great
view of the lake, right outside our front door.
One thing became immediately apparent, however. This place is a haven for bugs.
They were buzzing all around. We tried to light a citronella candle, but the
wind kept blowing it out. The wind was gusty at times, but generally wasn't
a big problem. I've been through much worse at Point Reyes.
Jean decided to take a nap in the tent while I went on a
short hike. I drove further on down the road, which unfortunately
becomes unpaved again, and parked in the dusty lot just past
Middle Creek Campground. Then I set off for Granite Lake.
After I returned from my hike we settled down to cook dinner,
which consisted of noodles, vegetables, and some wonderful
salmon taken from our last trip to Pike's Place Market in Seattle.
After dinner, we explored the shore of the lake a bit before
returning to find two deer wandering near our camp site. They
jumped away as I took out my camera, though.
While I was washing dishes, I suddenly noticed an orange glow
around our campsite. I looked out over the lake to see an amazing
orange-red horizon. The sky was on fire with the colors of a
beautiful radiant sunset. I jumped up and started toward my camera,
but then quickly changed direction and ran over to my car to get
the tripod first. I ran around frantically, knowing I only had a
few precious minutes to act. I set up my camera and took several
pictures, including a few with an innocent passerby enjoying the
sunset.
Sunset over Lower Blue Lake
Our neighbors stayed up a bit past the 10pm quiet hour, but not too
much longer. Given the fact that we'd had to get up early and the
long drive, we had no trouble falling asleep.
| 
Facebook Fan Page
Twitter
RSS Feed
