Hike and swim....

this weekend I went on a hike in the sierras with the sierra club and a friend. it was nice to get away from the heat of the valley and enjoy a nice walk in mountain meadows, woods and a swim in a beautiful mountain lake. the whole hike was something like 7 miles (3.5 in/out).

here is a meadow called "big meadow". i wonder why it's called that. we hiked through it to get to the trail that leads up and over a small range to the lake.




this is dardanelle lake. the water was cool and there were lot's of rocks to jump off into the water. lot's of people there camping and just enjoying the lake and the scenery. my friend and her dog swam to the rock at the far end of the the lake.



one of the several streams we crossed... dakota loves water, but didn't want to swim in the lake. this stream had some small trout in it, but dakota didn't notice.




dakota is sunbathing at the lake. it's rough being a dog ! the "beach" at this lake was gentle slopes of granite going into the water.





dakota and her new buddy ursa practicing their foraging skills in the woods. it's not like dakota would be able to catch anything, let alone figure out what to do with it.




wow... the air is really clear here and you can see for miles...






another view of the mountains...







all int all it was a nice escape fromt he heat of the valley (105+ this weekend). this hike is definately a "do it again", maybe during the week when there are less people on the trail.