Barclay Lake Trail ~ August 18th 2011

This is a nice easy hike, with a rewarding destination! Barclay Lake and views of Baring Mountain greet you after a little over 2 miles of walking and 225 feet of elevation gain. The drive up the forest road is beautiful as well. We encountered a fairly full parking area when we arrived at 11:30am on a Thursday. The trail was in great shape and the weather was mild.

Barclay Lake

Baring Mountain

My kids have some favorite things along this trail. This hollow log for starters. I think we have 3 consecutive years worth of pictures in it! :)

This bridge is a great place for racing sticks or pieces of bark down the creek.

They get their exercise lifting all these heavy rocks along the trail. ;-)

Climbing on all kind of logs and stumps.

Here are my flower and fungus pictures:

Columbine

A shot from the hike back.

I think this is Merchant Peak - peeking out of the clouds.

I just had to take a picture of this perfectly formed capital A.

I snapped a picture of this butterfly while we were waiting to start hiking. It held nice and still for me!

Happy trails.

Bridal Veil Falls Trail ~ August 11th 2011

If you want to get up close and personal with a waterfall, Bridal Veil Falls is the place to be! It's about 5 miles round trip with 800 feet of elevation gain. The trail is not too challenging with the exception of several groupings of stairs on the last portion of the trail. The good thing is that when you reach the stairs, you know you are almost there! We encountered several other groups along our hike on a partly cloudy, not too warm day. The trail was in great shape, with very little mud.

Bridal Veil Falls

This is another very popular trail and I would recommend trying to hike it on a weekday if possible. The views on the way up are beautiful.

View from along the trail

View from the falls

Pictures of fungus and wildflowers:

Shelf fungus

Indian Pipe

Note the moth at the bottom of the flower

and kids having fun...

Crossing a bridge

Hurry and take the picture, this is getting heavy!

Happy trails!

Lake Twenty Two Trail ~ August 4th 2011

I decided after hiking this trail for the second time, that Lake Twenty Two is one of my favorite trails! It was a gorgeous day and not too hot. The parking lot had quite a few cars in it when I arrived about noon, although there was still plenty of spaces left.

Lake Twenty Two from the far side.

Lake Twenty Two as you approach on the trail.

The trail was in good condition. We ran across others along the trail, but it wasn't crowded. This is a beautiful, very popular hike, so I wasn't surprised. I would recommend  trying this on a weekday late in the summer if you are able! The trail is almost 5 1/2 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 1350 feet.

The kids trying to play in the snow.

On top of the world.

The kids were thrilled by the snow around the lake and we spent quite a bit of time watching them play in the snow, climb boulders and play in the lake. We walked all the way around the lake. Part of the trail was still covered with snow so we had to walk around in parts and we stayed to the edges of the snow to avoid falling through.

Lots of wildflowers blooming and some fungus as well. :)

Heather

I love this one. Not sure what it is though.

Yellow violets

Blue violets of some sort

False Indian Hellebore

Devil's Club

Columbine

Bleeding Heart

The meadow area around the lake was so pretty and very wet as well!

Some of the standing water around the lake had an oily sheen on top that
broke up when we touched the surface of the water with a stick.

Waterfall from the snow melt.

The trail around the back of the lake.

Happy trails!