Melakwa Lake - 9 miles

Thunderstorms last Monday kept us out of the mountains, but not so yesterday. It did, however, remain overcast and even cold at times.

Zuzu didn't have a problem with it. Of course, she wears fur and makes no apologies for it.

Whooshy.

I-90. It doesn't exactly promote the getting-away-from-it-all feeling, but imagining the work that went into building this in that environment was kind of cool. Imagining having driven that stretch of road and never realizing how high up it is was less cool.

Preparing to cross Denny Creek.

Keekwulee Falls.

We had no idea this would be quite so spectacular.

Gaining some of the 2300'. The sun's absence was welcome here!

Snowshoe Falls.

 My head was covered with spiderwebs. Fortunately, NOT spiders!

Melakwa Lake 4600'. Lunchtime!

Also time to bundle up. It was c-c-cold. 

Merry Christmas!

Teneriffe Falls - 6 miles

The common saying around these parts is that summer begins on July 5, and so did our official hiking season. With the chance that certain community members would still be lighting fireworks post-holiday, we wanted to stay close-in and not leave poor fraidy pup Otter by himself for too long. This hike was not only pretty close, but one we hadn't done previously.Yay!

The first mile is a very gradual uphill along a forest road.

The second mile is smooth for .5 miles, then gets a bit more steep and rocky.

 There are some nice viewpoints along the way.

Zuzu shows the way, one more mile to go!

 The last mile has about 20 switchbacks, lots of rocks, and most of the elevation. This is where the boots do their work and the calves do their burnin'.

Reward! 

The mist was refreshing. 

Enjoying the view on the way back down.

Thanks, summer!