The weekend has absolutely flown by and I’m off trekking on my own. Thankfully Dave has helped me get my bearings and even lent me a van with which to traipse around the Montana wilderness. I’m still nursing a chest cold, but determined to not let it ruin my experience.
Today, my objective is Avalanche Lake, easily accessed about 2.5 miles from the Trail of the Cedars where we stopped on Saturday. The trail is heavily used and wide so it was natural that I ran into lots of people along the way. The walk beside the roaring Avalanche Creek soothed my ragged soul as I hiked into sub-alpine territory.
Not surprisingly the lake’s namesake is clear once one gets here. A number of scars and gashs on the sub-alpine forest are immediately obvious. As an electrical engineering student I was exposed to structural and mechanical concepts in my statics and dynamics classes, but the raw power of a slide of snow and ice amazes me still.
I made my way around the lake and took this shot looking back from whence I had come. I had been looking for a suitable place to eat my lunch. This will have to do.
On my way out I decided to rockhop along the edge of the lake. I ran into this young lady (mule deer doe) and decided to watch her for a while.
Since I was fending off my chest cold, this was exactly the type of hike I needed today. It wasn’t terribly far (5 miles roundtrip) but I did have to work to get there. The lake was a great payoff. I highly recommend it, even it you consider yourself a “walker” and not a “hiker.”