This post dedicated to my best friend S. who takes me to ALL the best places. Both in this world and in the worlds not seen.
Sometimes just when you think you know pretty much everything there is to know about a place where you spent 40 years of your life, something turns up to surprise the socks right off you.
That's what happened to me during my trip north this time.
My friend S. has a neighbor that she has been hiking with this summer. They have been to lots of mountain lakes and in their travels they found a place called Statue Lake. I thought I had heard the names of all the local lakes, this one was new to me. In fact it isn't even on many of the maps. S. promised to take me there. So we got up early and packed day packs and drove over Salmon Mountain and down to Music Creek. THEN we drove nine more miles up a dirt road to the trailhead.
Now I hadn't been on a mountain hiking trail for QUITE some time, so S. let me go first and set the pace. My pace was what I call, 'turtle speed'. I had to stop often to catch my breath as the difference between my usual 40 ft altitude and this 6000 foot altitude was doing interesting things to my lungs. But I trudged on. That's my strong point you see. I might be the slowest person on the trail and last person to arrive... but I arrive! We hiked up a series of so many switchbacks that I lost count of them.
Then we made it to the Pacific Crest Trail which is like the highway of the wilderness in case you have never been on it. Well traveled and wide it usually goes up and down in gradual ways that are very nice for hikers. We cruised along on it for maybe 45 minutes and came to the bail off spot that S. knew about. There was no sign, no trail, no nothing.
So bail we did and went straight up the hill for about 20 minutes or so until we came to this:
[album 65561 Country Life 032.jpg]
That's S. standing in front of it. That is one BIG rock I thought. But somebody should have patted my head and said.... 'Big rock? That's not a big rock dear. You haven't SEEN big rocks yet.' But no one was around to clue me in, and S. never talks to me like that. Therefore I was not prepared for what I was about to see.
A few minutes later after scrambling over slabs of rock the size of semi trucks we sat down and took a look at this:
[album 65561 Country Life 039.jpg]
Nice little mountain lake you say. What's the big deal?
Well turn around and take a gander at what's behind you:
[album 65561 Country Life 048.jpg]
Yep. Me too.
[album 65561 Country Life 057.jpg]
I'm not kidding.
[album 65561 Country Life 081.jpg]
[album 65561 Country Life 083.jpg]
[album 65561 Country Life 084.jpg]
Needless to say, I was gobsmacked. I have never been to any lake that is anywhere NEAR this spectacular. It was actually very difficult to get good pictures of the place as the rock formations were so close. We crawled all over the giant jumbled pile of rocks looking for better vantage points and I finally gave it up. You just had to be there. Unbelievable.
So we hung out, ate lunch, got our feet in the water, took pictures and generally ogled the place until we figured we better head home. I'm told that this hike was somewhere between 2 1/2 to 3 miles one way.
It seemed farther.
When we got back to the spot where we had to get off the Pacific Crest Trail there is a nice spot where you can look across and see Mt. Shasta. It is a little hard to see, but it's out there. ..
[album 65561 Country Life 092.jpg]
We made it back in one piece. I was tired but not.... whooped as they say. This gave me no END of happiness to know that I can still make it to the highcountry places. I might live in the flatland right now, but I don't ever want to BECOME a flatlander thank you very much.
I am like Robert Burns in this respect...
"My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer -
A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe;
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go."
Sometimes just when you think you know pretty much everything there is to know about a place where you spent 40 years of your life, something turns up to surprise the socks right off you.
That's what happened to me during my trip north this time.
My friend S. has a neighbor that she has been hiking with this summer. They have been to lots of mountain lakes and in their travels they found a place called Statue Lake. I thought I had heard the names of all the local lakes, this one was new to me. In fact it isn't even on many of the maps. S. promised to take me there. So we got up early and packed day packs and drove over Salmon Mountain and down to Music Creek. THEN we drove nine more miles up a dirt road to the trailhead.
Now I hadn't been on a mountain hiking trail for QUITE some time, so S. let me go first and set the pace. My pace was what I call, 'turtle speed'. I had to stop often to catch my breath as the difference between my usual 40 ft altitude and this 6000 foot altitude was doing interesting things to my lungs. But I trudged on. That's my strong point you see. I might be the slowest person on the trail and last person to arrive... but I arrive! We hiked up a series of so many switchbacks that I lost count of them.
Then we made it to the Pacific Crest Trail which is like the highway of the wilderness in case you have never been on it. Well traveled and wide it usually goes up and down in gradual ways that are very nice for hikers. We cruised along on it for maybe 45 minutes and came to the bail off spot that S. knew about. There was no sign, no trail, no nothing.
So bail we did and went straight up the hill for about 20 minutes or so until we came to this:
[album 65561 Country Life 032.jpg]
That's S. standing in front of it. That is one BIG rock I thought. But somebody should have patted my head and said.... 'Big rock? That's not a big rock dear. You haven't SEEN big rocks yet.' But no one was around to clue me in, and S. never talks to me like that. Therefore I was not prepared for what I was about to see.
A few minutes later after scrambling over slabs of rock the size of semi trucks we sat down and took a look at this:
[album 65561 Country Life 039.jpg]
Nice little mountain lake you say. What's the big deal?
Well turn around and take a gander at what's behind you:
[album 65561 Country Life 048.jpg]
Yep. Me too.
[album 65561 Country Life 057.jpg]
I'm not kidding.
[album 65561 Country Life 081.jpg]
[album 65561 Country Life 083.jpg]
[album 65561 Country Life 084.jpg]
Needless to say, I was gobsmacked. I have never been to any lake that is anywhere NEAR this spectacular. It was actually very difficult to get good pictures of the place as the rock formations were so close. We crawled all over the giant jumbled pile of rocks looking for better vantage points and I finally gave it up. You just had to be there. Unbelievable.
So we hung out, ate lunch, got our feet in the water, took pictures and generally ogled the place until we figured we better head home. I'm told that this hike was somewhere between 2 1/2 to 3 miles one way.
It seemed farther.
When we got back to the spot where we had to get off the Pacific Crest Trail there is a nice spot where you can look across and see Mt. Shasta. It is a little hard to see, but it's out there. ..
[album 65561 Country Life 092.jpg]
We made it back in one piece. I was tired but not.... whooped as they say. This gave me no END of happiness to know that I can still make it to the highcountry places. I might live in the flatland right now, but I don't ever want to BECOME a flatlander thank you very much.
I am like Robert Burns in this respect...
"My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer -
A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe;
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go."