A good day scouting.

We drove over the park this morning and it was pretty cool. It was clear, beautiful, and warm as we entered the park around the Manzanita Lake area. As we continued to gain elevation, the clouds came in and the wind a little. Pretty soon, we were socked in, with about 5′ of visual clearance, driving a curvy road with drop-offs on the side. It was kinda cool at the same time as a little eery. As usual, we were fairly early so there were few people on the road. As we peeked the pass and started down the other side, the clouds cleared a little.

We stopped at the park entrance/visitor’s center on the south side of the park and hiked the Mill Creek Trail. It was 3.2 miles round trip at about 7,000′ elevation. We considered it our warm-up hike. It took us through a field of yellow flowers that lasted as far as you could see, then through the forest, opening on a hillside where we saw three deer, and ended at a waterfall. It was a great hike. We had lunch at the falls and hiked back. We hiked alone on the way to the falls and passed several families on the way back. It’s more fun to hike alone.

We returned to camp and took a nap. Neither of us slept very well last night. We made a quick trip to the store in Shingletown and returned to make our camp more comfortable (set up chairs and hung the Party Lights). After resting for a bit outside, we decided to go back to Shingletown to try the pizza place, primarily because we wanted to use the Internet to find a hike for tomorrow. We are planning our week adventures and balancing hiking with paddling. We are back at camp now, taking quick showers, and just about ready for bed (it’s only 7:00pm). We love camping!