Day 2 Lake Vernon

This was a strenuous walking day, but so fun and full of adventure. I think we decided it was about 11-12 miles from Rancheria falls up to the lake, but it was all uphill, except for just before reaching the lake. I am not kidding, doing the loop counterclockwise is not for the faint of heart. IT was so beautiful though and sunny. For the first time ever, I actually finished the entire 2 liters of water we pack in our packs every day. You hike through Till Till valley, which is more swamp I think than meadow this time of year. WE put on our gators and everything. So pretty though. I pointed out to T that we there were some bear tracks along the trail every so often, and I don't think that bear was too far ahead of us, because we came across a giant pile of bear scat. Lots of fiber in that diet.

WE ended up hiking into the snow drifts and had some trouble at times finding the trail. T is good at finding the trail though. We ran into some other hikers who had trouble staying on the trail, going the opposite way from us, so we were able to tell them just to follow our tracks to the other side. WE couldn't follow their tracks too well, so we ended up adventure hiking down the side of the mountain to the lake, which we could see, and the trail, which we could also see from above, but not how to use it to get down. Fun fun!!