Merriam Lake

It was a long drive up north of Mackay.  

The last 1 1/2 hours were on dirt roads, which got

 progressively worse the closer we got to the trailhead.

It was one dirty ride!

Ready to head out.

It was a gentle uphill climb most of the way....

...with a few steep parts along the way.

There was one creek crossing near the top.

And then it got rockier and steeper.

The lake is just over that ridge.

The lake comes into view.

Hanging around waiting for dinner to cook.

Some pictures of the lake.

After dinner, we followed the trail around the lake

We followed the stream uphill to see where it leads.

We passed one other family who was camped out at the other end of the lake.

looking uphill

looking back at the lake

Garrett and Justin beheaded all the thistles along the way (below in blue)

And Deanne posed by all the tiny waterfalls along the way.

Garrett and Justin seeing how long they could brave the ice cold water.

The stream disappeared after we climbed up over this rocky hill.

Erika and I kept climbing uphill to see what we could find.

That's Erika in black midway up the hill.

A view looking back at the lake from our climb.

Back at camp roasting marshmallows 

Eating oatmeal in the morning.

Garrett posing for a rare photograph 

(after being threatened with no lunch on the way home).

It rained a little during the night and again that morning.

What luck we are having with rain lately!

Heading back down the trail.

It wasn't as bad as Deanne makes it look.

She carried all her own stuff this time and 

made it the whole way without any help and without much complaining.

Snowslide Lake

Up north of McCall  is Snowslide Lake.

We had to cross a very cold river right at the start.

(I forgot to mention that small detail to everyone.)

Nonetheless, we all made it safely across.

Here we are ready to go after drying our feet and putting our shoes back on.

The start of the trail was nice and gentle...

But soon it started uphill and didn't straighten out again until we reached the lake.  

It was a steep, tough climb.

Midway through our climb, Deanne starts singing

"What doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger, stand a little taller..."

And she pauses to say that she isn't feeling very tall.  

I look up at everyone trudging their way uphill all hunched over and had to laugh.

Finally the lake comes into view.

We drop our packs to scout out a place to camp.

We headed out around the right side of the lake, but found no camp spots.

Back on the other side of the lake, 

we found a nice spot to set up camp.

Shane and Justin try out the fishing.

Erika kindly wades in to untangle Justin's fishing line.

With no luck at fishing, we venture around the top end of the lake.

There was a nice space between the big snow drift and 

the rocky cliff but not quite big enough to fit through.. 

So, we climbed up and around for this view of the lake.

We hung out on this rock enjoying the view.

While Justin played around with knives.

We decided to try crossing the snow drift on the way back.

We dropped down into the crevice when it got big enough 

and made our way back to camp.

Playing with fire.

Erika and Deanne hunting for frogs as our smoke settles across the lake.

Later that evening, one other couple set up camp at the other end of the lake.

At 4 in the morning, we saw lots of lightening and heard some thunder rumble in the distance.  

And then it started raining on us.  

Thankfully it did not last long as I decided to leave the rainfly in the car. (Won't do that again.)

It started raining again in the morning, so we packed up and headed out after breakfast.    

Downhill all the way.

until the very end.