Hot Hike!

Yesterday I went on another hike into the Sierras. It took Kelly and I about 2 1/2 hours to get up past Sonora and through the pass to Levitt's Meadow for our hike. Upon arriving at the parking area, I could see a great river coursing its way through the long meadow. While it seemed smooth through the meadow valley, it soon began crashing upon the rocks and we realized that even this late in the year, the river had quite a current. Once we crossed over the river on a bridge, we headed uphill for about 3 miles. Unfortunately, there wasn't much shade and it got quite hot. On this trip, as opposed to last week, I put on sunscreen before I left!

After about 3.5 miles, we arrived at Secret Lake. It was a beautiful lake nestled into a mountain valley. We had brought our water shoes and waded out into the lake up to our knees. Soon, we saw the life of the lake emerge with crawdads, water skippers, and chipmunks scurrying about. The water was so warm it would have been easy to swim. That scene made the trip worth it! The hike back on the other side of the mountain was much smoother and mostly downhill, though exposed to the sun almost the whole way. A highlight was the fragrance of sage from the sage bushes all around the valley. All in all, our trip was about 8 miles.

Right down the road from where the trail started was a Marine cold weather base. We saw some Marine Corp. vehicles and soldiers training on the rock cliffs. I liked knowing they were there- it was probably the safest I have ever felt on a hike. :)

Alas, I forgot my camera, but I found some pictures on the internet. I wish I could find a picture with the river running through the valley.  It's quite the beautiful wilderness!

Part of Levitt's Meadow where we started-

And the lake was something like this-