My sister offered to take the kids for us for a weekend so that my wife and I could have a weekend along for a change. We couldn't turn that down, and I made some plans for some fun things we could do together on the cheap. I prefer to be out in the free nature that's all around us anyway.
However, this year has been a very difficult one for my wife's allergies, and their intensity seemed to ratchet up to an entirely new level early this week. Now, she wasn't just stuffed up and unable to breathe, she was coughing uncontrollably, and wheezing like a 65-year-old chain smoker with emphysema.
She called me at work Tuesday, and told me that I might need to rethink my plans if they involved doing something outside, because her allergies were now going crazy. She didn't quite have it pegged though, because the next morning at work, she found herself to be feverish. That's when she knew that what she actually had was a cold, and not elevated allergies. She might be able to do things outdoors after all if only she were able to heal from the sickness in time.
When Friday finally came, she was significantly improved from her earlier disability. We dropped the kids off at my sister's house, and then started on our way. Originally, I had planned a day of hiking for us, but she was afraid that it might leave her completely used up and unable to have any more fun the rest of the weekend. So, instead of a hike, I figured maybe we'd take a drive instead.
We drove up the nearby canyon, trying some roads we'd never taken before. We ended up on a crazy dirt road that really amped up my wife's fear of cliff edges. The road led us to this lake.
Despite her fear of triggering her allergies, we got out of the car, and enjoyed the peaceful scenery and gentle breeze. She said it was the kind of place she could stay at for hours. But we couldn't stay for hours, because there was other things we needed to do. My wife decided we would return to the lake for a picnic on Father's Day, and we moved on.
We almost never go out to movies together, and when we do, it's always with the rest of the family in tow. So, we're always seeing a movie that the kids (or I) would enjoy, like superhero movies or animated films. I wanted to go with her to a movie that she would enjoy. I checked what was in theaters right now, and found a romantic comedy and a Jane Austen period piece, both things that she loves. The romantic comedy had a 58 out of 100 on Rotten Tomatoes, but the Jane Austen show was at a 99! It seemed obvious which one we should be seeing.
Unfortunately, we missed the next showing by a mere fifteen minutes. This was actually fine by her, because her illness was still taking it out of her pretty good. When I offered her the chance to go home and take a nap until the next showing, she jumped at it. Her nap lasted longer than expected, and we wound up seeing the 9:15 showing instead of the 6:15 one.
It was a fun show. Kate Beckinsale was excellent in the main role. Not sure if it quite qualified for a 99/100 score, but I still really liked it, and so did my wife.
The next morning, it was time to attempt a hike. It was supposed to be an easy hike that started at the parking lot of a ski resort, and went up past three different lakes with a small detour that would take you past a fourth if you chose to take it.
It was actually pretty challenging to begin with. Online, it said that the first third of the hike was the hardest. They weren't kidding. We started hiking, and basically headed straight up the ski slope, yeah, you know, that hill that is steep enough to send someone speeding down when there's snow, that's what we were going up. Sadly, my wife, as sick as she was, did just as well as her perfectly healthy husband. I had to take as many rests as she did.
Eventually, we made it to the sign that indicated the trail offshoot that led to the side lake. The sign said it was only 500 feet, so I couldn't let us not walk over an look at it. Even as fat and out of shape as I am, I still could manage 500 feet, and since my wife was in better shape sick than I was healthy, I figured she could handle it too. This was it:
A really pretty backdrop, but the lake itself was kind of messy, filled with weeds all the way around the edges.
We got back on the main trail and resumed our climb. We were getting a little tired of the endless ascent, but hikers that passed us on the way back down told us that it was worth it. When we saw this, we had to wonder if that was true:
The lake was just above the dam, obviously, but that was a damn tall dam. That meant one more steep climb to make. But then we got there, and they were right. It was worth it.
The lake was really beautiful. There's few things I love more than a nice mountain lake.
We sat down on a big rock next to the trail, and enjoyed the view. As other hikers passed us, everyone seemed to be talking about a girl that had died here. They talked about the rock that she'd jumped from and how she'd drowned in the lake. It was weird how many people were talking about it. At first, we'd thought it was just an urban legend, then maybe that it was something that had happened years earlier, but we never guessed the truth.
Later, when we got back home we found out the real deal. The girl had died at the lake the day before. My wife found the news story on her phone when we got back to town and had some cell reception. That was kind of creepy. We took this picture of the cliffs on the far side of the lake without ever realizing that it might have been the exact cliff she'd leaped to her death from.
I used to do a lot of cliff jumping when I was a teenager, throwing my body from bridges and cliffs that were as much as 70 or 80 feet above the American River. When I hear about things like this, it makes me appreciate the fact that I'm still here with you all, and nothing went wrong on any of my jumps. It also makes me glad that I was too chicken to try any of the really dangerous jumps.
Despite the macabre circumstances, the lake was really pretty. I couldn't stop taking pictures of it.
These two panoramas are particularly pretty, I think.
Eventually, it was time to move on to the next lake. It wasn't far off, but it was further down the trail. And there were several spots that were still covered in snow at this late date in the year. My wife had worn her Teva sandals to hike in, and open-toed shoes are generally not ideal for walking in snow. We'd traversed a few snowy spots on the trail to the last lake, but now they were becoming more prevalent, and she was getting tired of it. She was ready to turn around. We did manage to make it to the third lake before doing so, however.
This one was also very nice, but not quite as nice as the last one. It had a weedy shoreline like that first side lake, but it also had some wonderful grassy spots that would be great for a picnic, which someone was doing when we passed by.
My wife had read that the fourth and final lake was the most beautiful of all, but she'd had enough. The trail was only getting worse with every step, muddier and more snowy. So, we decided to turn back. Maybe later in the summer we can come back and see all three four.
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