Hiking and hiding in the Elkhorns

Yesterday we went up to Black Lake. Short hike, about a mile each way. There's a lot of water up there though the snow has pretty much melted off. I tried to get the kids to jump in the cold lake, but their better instincts restrained them. I offered Colm a dollar. That did the trick. One day he'll know the value of a dollar.

Tess was next, but she was still unsure so I sweetened the deal by promising to jump in myself if she went in. Finally, after counting to three about six times, she took the plunge. Right about this time, the clouds overhead began dropping rain lightly on us. The kids took shelter under some trees.

I stripped down and made good on my promise. I swam out a ways wondering just how far might be too far before I'd be laboring to maintain muscle control. In a word, it was breathtakingly cold.

We lunched under the shelter of the pines. There were large patches of blue above us, but far off we heard the sound of thunder rolling. We had imagined spending the rest of the day at the lake but the thunder and the skeeters changed our minds.

On the hike back I stopped to photograph the kids crossing a log that bridged the bog when out of the corner of my eye I spotted Sammy racing towards them. I only had time to guess at his point of intersection with them, refocus and shoot.

I snapped this at the precise moment Sammy completely disappeared from view into water hole below the log. I'm pretty sure Sammy did not realize how deep it was when he launched. Both kids kept their poise and their balance.

On our way back the kids morph from bedraggled, wet towel-swathed refugees to rock scrambling spy kids who constantly skirted the trail in favor of the rocky terrain above. They cleverly kept out of our sight, except of course when I was able to capture them on camera.
K