Return to Silver Lake

 

Today my plan was to hike Donut Falls, then picnic at Moss Ledge and then explore around Moss Ledge. As we drove up the canyon I discovered moss ledge was closed for re-vegetation. It was closed last year when I tried due to flooding so I was kind of mad, but accepted it. So, after we hiked Donut Falls, I decided we could go up to Silver Lake again to picnic and explore.

We had to park across the street in the general stores parking lot, where I snapped this nice picture. The picnic areas were full, so we decided to just walk around the boardwalk.

Even with the sun flair (I really need to use my lens shade more often) I like this shot.

Pretty shot of the peaks.

As we walked down the boardwalk, I looked out towards the lake, and spotted this moose! Landis and I’s stopping to take pictures had gathered another group, which was helpful, as you will understand in a minute. They were either non-local, or locals who don’t get up into the mountains much. They asked us if that was a moose, we said yes that is definitely a moose. But it doesn’t have antlers, is it not the season for anthers? No, it is, but I think that is a lady moose. Confused look. Only male moose have antlers. Still confused look. More questions when…

I was starting to kick myself for not bringing my telephoto lens this trip. I thought about it, then went, meh, where we are going I wont need it.

Turns out I didn’t need it, as the moose started galloping right towards us!!!

Majestic!

I am not going to lie, I nearly peed myself. Of all my exploring, I have never had a moose come charging at me before, and it was really nerve wrecking. Moose are MEAN animals.

After galloping towards, and then passing us it stopped and stared us down. About this point I was starting to get really nervous, the other group of obvious non-natives who asked us if this was a moose, were still asking us questions, as we were backing away. Again, not going to lie, I appreciated that they stayed put, and I strategically placed them between us and the moose at this point.

I really thought it was going to charge us, but it ended up crossing the boardwalk (the sound of it’s hooves on it was spectacular!) and then disappeared into the woods. I heard it splashing into the creek, and would have loved to get pictures of that, but in order to do that I would have had to be about where it crossed.

Adrenaline still rushing a bit, we continued around the lake. The beaver dam is still there!

Last time we were here, we hiked up there. This time we just wanted to walk around the lake.

I loved these flowers.

Duckies!!!

Chipmunk!

I have wonderful, fond memories as a kid playing around this area. My parents took us all the time. It is absolutely gorgeous and is very family friendly. Well, if you don’t run into a moose that is. One of these days we need to go fishing up here. I think it’d be great.

Returning down to the valley I see the fire in Saratoga Springs is still blowing in to our valley. DBP shot through a very dirty windshield.

Last time I was here I gave this trail 8 squirrels. Considering the close up I got of the moose today, I am going to upgrade that 8 to a 9.

Return to Donut Falls

 

I haven’t gotten out as much as I would have liked this season, so when we had an available weekend I jumped on it. I really wanted to explore something new, but since we haven’t been out much decided we should probably do something on the easier side.

The Donut Falls trailhead parking lot was quite packed. Luckily we found a spot that was not prohibited. When we returned we saw a ranger ticketing cars outside of this area so we got lucky. :)

The flowers are in full bloom.

I love this trail.

From the bridge over the creek.

Wild Blue Bells?

And back to the creek. When you reach this point, you are almost to the falls.

 

As you can see, this is a REALLY popular trail.

 

Up to this point, the trail is pretty easy. However you don’t really get to see much of the waterfall. If you look closely towards the top, you can just see the water disappear into the rock. Now the trail goes from easy to difficult boulder scrambling to get to the waterfall. I have done this before, but for some reason it was making me extra nervous today and it took a long time to build enough courage to just go for it.

 

The sooner that you resign yourself to the fact that your feet are going to get soaked, the better off you will be. Just accept it, and keep climbing.

I really liked the water streaming down the log and moss.

I made it! Phew! The opening to the cave seems smaller than it was last time, but I am probably just imagining that.

A couple shots from inside the cave. At first I thought the water level was higher, but I think I got back into the cave further this time than last time. So, either the water level was actually lower, or you know since it has been a few years, maybe it has changed some.

A good shot of the water disappearing into the mountain side.

The view back down. The fact that is is a little intimidating, and difficult to scramble up to the waterfall is actually a blessing, not a lot of people actually make it up, so even though it is crowded below, it is quite a bit less crowded at the cave.

… Or, I had good timing today.

Again, from down here it doesn’t look like much.

I normally do not like using a flash when I take wildflower pictures, but I just love the way this one turned out. I ended up with a nicely focused flower in the foreground, and really bright, out of focus splashes of color in the background. Alright, lesson learned even if I have decided I don’t like something, it is always worth trying again.

It’s so green up here!

Some more wildflowers from the trip down.

Now that these 2 images are side by side I realize they are the same type of flower. Now I wonder is the 2nd one more mature, or defective?

Wow, this ended up being a little longer than I thought it would be so I guess I will post the next location we visited, Silver Lake in a separate post.

Last time I visited Donut Falls it was quite a bit less crowded, and I gave it a 9 squirrel rating. Even though it was a lot more crowded today, this is still one of the most unique waterfalls I have ever seen, and is really just an amazing hike to do. I think it shall retain the 9 squirrels.