Knox Lake - New and Improved!

Bob and I did this hike last year and found out that where we stopped was not Knox Lake, but another smaller one. So this time we hiked with Carla, Kathy, Mary and Phyllis and came close to not even getting to make the hike. There were 2 cars of us, Phyllis driving her SUV and Bob and I were in our truck. We made it close to the trail head but there was a gate open we didn't remember before so Phyllis turned up into that road.

Keep in mind that it had been a year or in some cases 2-3 years since any of us had been here, and with no service for the phones, it was the blind leading the blind on the road to nowhere! As we found out later, Bob and I were saying 'they must know something we don't' and they were saying 'surely Bob and Barb would signal us if this isn't right.' After about 2 miles of severely bumpy, rutted road, Phyllis stopped and they all piled out. This is the funniest picture so far for this season!



What they were seeing was a large rut full of mud that she refused to go thru...for good reason! We helped her turn around and get by us and then we turned the truck around (methodology was scissor turns...2' forward, turn, 2' back, turn, etc) but we did it and in going on the other road found the trail head. I don't believe any of us will make that mistake again.




And so we were off. Due to late snow melt and rains, the water was running strong. This was our first look at the Bear Creek that flows below.









The big fun for the day was traversing several of the creeks flowing downhill. Half of the group walked across logs and the rest across the bed over rocks hoping to not sink below our shoes.










This was a good bit of the look of the path we walked along. At each turn you yell 'Hey Bear, Bear, Bear.' We practiced Indian whoops, talking loudly and singing silly songs along with the constant chatter of 5 women walking along a path!

Harebell

Bob taking a picture of the field of Harebells. There are so many flowers around this year, its been exciting to see and identify the varieties still in bloom.

This is a little, double pond formed from run off. It appears to be larger last year.










Another crossing. I'm in the middle of the water as I have no confidence walking on logs. There's always the 2 options, log or water. The Forestry Service fixes a log or two from the downed trees. And in some cases there are nice bridges they've constructed.









And here is the lake that Bob and I stopped at thinking it was Knox last year. They all said, 'oh no, go further!'

And here is the next lake that we would have stopped at thinking it was Knox Lake but Kathy  said 'oh no, go further!'












Field of flowers between lakes.










And here is the official Knox Lake. The description was that of a large, turquoise lake. This picture does a good job of showing off the coloring. It may be due to algae bloom in the water, snow melt and/or the rocks in the bottom. When the wind is calm and sun shining, it's very pretty and unusual.







Knox Lake after we all had lunch.

























You can see the coloring best at this type of angle with the camera. We could see it standing next to the water but the color wouldn't show in the shots as brilliant.





As we hiked back down we saw this baby chipmunk frozen in place and visibly shaking. He finally realized there was the option of running and hiding but not before we got about 50 pictures of him collectively. :)

Chipmunks, Ground Squirrels and birds were the only wildlife around. And so, another hike is done and now we don't have to do it again (we hope!).