Mirror Lake
Lots of great rocks to climb on the way.
We took lots of energy breaks.
Well worth the hike!
Another lovely view of the lake.
Wading in the lake.
Go around the lake, and you can see the valley you came from.
The outflow from the lake. A hidden treasure.
This hike was definitely more taxing than the ones we've been on before. First of all, it was a good 50 miles away from home. The last 10 or so were on unpaved road that has seen better days, so it took us about a 1/2 hour just to get close to the trailhead on that stretch. Like some other hikers, we didn't actually drive to the trailhead but chose to walk the last 1/3 mile (uphill) or so because the road got so rugged.
The trail began in an area that had been clearcut, so it was sort of like bushwacking. I joked that we should've brought our machete. After ~1/4 mile we entered the forest and the trail got much better. We kept going higher and higher through the forest, taking many energy and water breaks. Then, the trail passed a small, shallow lake. This was pretty, but not the end of the road. We went another half mile uphill, with lots of big rocks and boulders for the boys to climb and lots of peace for the adults. There were a few places where the trail crosses some little mountain streams and mud patches, but the water is pretty low and it wasn't too difficult for either kid. In fact, it was pretty exciting for them.
We arrived at Mirror Lake, a blue-green oasis in the middle of an Eden, with a rock face for dramatic effect on one side. We took our shoes and socks off and splashed around a little bit, had a lunch break, and wished we'd brought bathing gear and floaties.
We have been to relatively few places in the world that you can't drive to. We felt privileged to enjoy this piece of paradise that hardly anyone (in the larger scheme of things) has ever seen.
We continued to follow the trail past the lake to where it flows out in a waterfall. We did not let the boys see most of the waterfall, as it involved some rock climbing and I'm just not comfortable with that for Connor, even though I'm sure Michael could have made it. Instead, we took turns going down to look. The first level was a picturesque "water curtain" over some rocks. That's as far as I went, but Rick said he climbed down farther to a less picturesque but bigger waterfall.
The trail continued down in what we now believe was a loop, but we headed back the way we came not knowing for sure, and not having a lot of water left. Going downhill took about 1/8 the time as going uphill, of course.
We estimated about 3 miles round trip with ~700 foot elevation gain. It definitely was a challenge for us all, but truly wonderful!
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on Friday, July 22, 2005 at 8:09 AM.
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