Mirror and Cottonwood Lakes

Beautiful fall day, we choose to take a quick hike at Snoqualmie Pass to Mirror and Cottonwood Lakes. This is listed as a 2.2 mile roundtrip hike with 870 ft of gain. We found the last 0.5 mile of FR 5480 to rough to drive up. And we added the additional 0.3 miles to the far end of Mirror Lake, making our trip 3.8 miles. Nice quick hike!

 About 1 mile from where we parked we found the short spur trail to Cottonwood lake













Wide angle shot of Cottonwood lake

 Some fall colors along the hillside

 First view of Mirror Lake 0.6 miles up the trail from Cottonwood Lake
















some fall color at Mirror Lake

Pano view of Mirror Lake 0.3 miles further going along the PCT. Silver Peak in the distance

PCT Cedar Springs to Fobes Road

Drove up to the Cedar Springs Trail to hike along a newly opened section of the PCT in Southern California. We hiked 8.2 miles with 1,700 ft of gain.
We started at Cedar Springs.

Nolina

Looking back down the valley where we hiked up













small snake on the trail
















Panoramic views up on the PCT:

Great views as we hiked up on the crest

This section of the PCT had been closed for several years due to a wildfire

view from our lunch spot

We left the PCT where it is closed. More trail work is needed before this section can be safely hiked. Hiked the Fobes Trail down to where we left one of our cars.

Looking back up at the ridge line where we hiked.

Wide angle shot from the trailhead, looking back up at the ridge line we hiked today.

long horned cows we saw on the road today

some of the wildflowers and other flora we saw on the hike today:

Hart Tree Loop

Hiked the Hart Tree Loop in Kings Canyon National Park to enjoy the Giant Sequoias. This is a 7.25 mile loop hike with 900 ft of gain.
We hiked clockwise around the loop.

This sequoia seemed to have a face

The trail goes through a large grove of Sequoias.

manu of the trees were burned at the base

looking up at the Sequoias

young sequoias

There was a hollow fallen log that had once been used as a shelter

it amazes me that these trees can have so much of the base of the trunks burnt and still survive

The trail goes through this hollow trunk

view through the hollow trunk

Hart Tree

log bridge over Redwood Creek