Lady Lakes

4 top pictures by Clarence

Fourteen of us hiked 6 miles in a loop around to the 3 Lakes: Azalea, Angela, and Flora. The weather was less toasty and a cool breeze made for a glorious hiking day through gardens respendent with flowers. As usual, the most showy among them were the lilies. The orange Alpine lilies and the white Mariposa lilies were in lush, damper areas as were corn lilies and lots of spirea. Akiko made a list of flowers such as false solomons seal, butterweed (both single stemmed and arrowhead?)and other members of the aster family, paintbrush, pretty face, etc. It was an amazingly long list. The large granite boulders and gnarled trees (dead and alive) made spendid back drops. Present were Tiana, Akiko, Selma, both Marilyns, Paula, Maureen, Grace, Clarence, John the younger, Claudia, new hiker Evelyn, John and Elly. Clarence led us around the far side of Lake Flora to a partially submerged flat rock, perfect for lunch.

While we were eating and watching the fish, we were treated to a Bald Eagle sighting. He left the tree and swooped away in flight, flashing his large white head and tail and dark wings. Earlier, we had seen what we thought was possibly a Bald Eagle nest. But Clarence's binoculars brought us to our senses: pine cones in an odd arrangement.

As usual, we drew together as a group during what was a small glitch when a member lost strength and became dizzy on the hike from Flora to the vehicles. This should be a wake-up call for us to know emergency procedures in case someone becomes even more incapacitated. It could certainly happen to any one of us and we should know what to do.

For those who didn't receive Clarence's email: Aug. 21 (a Saturday) at 3:30 is the meeting time for the Squaw moonlight hike. Bring warm clothes!

Next week we talked about going to Blue Lake but first hiking up Mt. Zion before heading out to the petroglyphs. That was John Skinner's favorite spot. Clarence will lead the hike and it may require a certain amount of exploring.