[Wikipedia: The Wild Sky Wilderness is significant because it is the first new federally-designated wilderness in Washington since 1984. Also, unlike many other wilderness areas in the Cascades, Wild Sky protects significant amounts of high biological productivity low-elevation forest.]
There were some big trees up there.
We came across a guy with a chainsaw who'd been doing some serious work clearing the trail of LARGE trees which had fallen across the trail. He recruited Ci and I to help him roll some big chunks of log off of the trail. He was a volunteer from Seattle. Burly dude. He gave us his # so we could let him know how many more big logs there are up the trail. Ci kept careful count.
The dogs had a ball.
The lake was a beautiful emerald green. Wikipedia says: Glacial lakes can be green as a result of pulverized minerals (rock flour) that support a large population of algae. I didn't know (or, more likely, had forgotten) that algae is responsible for the color.
For all pics, see http://picasaweb.google.com/remierice/20081025BlancaLake#.
On the drive back we stopped for pastries at the Sultan Bakery. That place is legendary. Then , back in Seattle, we stopped for burgers. Judging by how my stomach felt this morning, the guacomole bacon burger was a little much.
Ci did his Bryan Adams impression for us (which damaged his vocal cords years ago because of the gravelly voice required -- this was interesting to Orli and Brianna because they are in speech and hearing science). We started singing lots of songs. Dirty Dancing also came up. So many good songs on that soundtrack :) [I've had the time of my life (and i owe it all to you), she's like the wind, hungry eyes, etc.]
Good trip!
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2 comments:
Wow, that's some beautiful country. The glacial lake is lovely. I knew about rock flour but didn't realize that algae produces the green color. Nice to know that new wilderness areas are still being formed.
I didn't know about the algae either. Really a gorgeous lake and forest. I like the action shot of Winston and Simon, what cute puppies. Yeah, most of the songs on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack are awesome. :)
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