What a beautiful sunny day to hike to a beautiful lake. Apparently everyone else thought so too, and when I arrived at 8:30am the parking lot was already overflowing. I was pretty surprised.
I really love this trail. It can be done in like a loop, as the Upper and Lower Elliot Trails diverge shortly after the trail starts, and then rejoin a couple miles before the lake. I like to go on Upper and return on Lower. The Upper trail is a wider flatter trail, with groves of aspens and peek-a-boo views of the crags across the valley now and then. The Lower trail is a narrow twisty undulating trail through the woods. You can't go wrong with either. Here and there you can see sections of boardwalk type planking from when this was a "paved" (with wood) road to a town and a hotel.
There are also numerous waterfalls along the trail. The biggest ones you have to leave the trail a very short distance for, but they are oh so worth it!
Today there were flowers everywhere. The trillium were done and the bleeding hearts looked tired, but still - color everywhere.
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| bunchberry dogwood |
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| beadruby |
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| queen's cup |
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| columbine |
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| coral root |
The lake itself, although many people were there, seemed quiet and peaceful. Swallows were skimming the water's surface and water skeeters were skittering on top of it. It was pretty idyllic.
I was joined by a friendly chipmunk for lunch. No, I would never feed wildlife. Looks like he just so happened to pack a mini PB&J too hehe. In fact it was a nice day for a lot of small wildlife - although I didn't get a photo of all of them.
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| banana slug |
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| yellow warbler |
Get out into nature and soak it all in!
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