Sunday, December 11, 2011

A New Generation: Part III: Big Pine Lakes



By now, we had the High Sierra bug. After Cottonwood Lakes we were already looking forward to getting Maggie out on her first multi-day camping trip. We ended up getting a few days mid-week to sneak away and we decided to hit up the Big Pine Lakes area.

With another great 5-6 mile hike into the first couple of lakes and several lakes to venture to past those, this was a great place to spend a few days. You also get to pass an old cabin that used to be owned by Charleton Heston (now the USFS) and a very lush area of Aspen and flowers (that were in full bloom during our hike).

This area was a bit more traveled than Cottonwood lakes and we had more than a few interactions with curious hikers who found our party amusing. After a little poking around, we found a great little spot for our camp and settled in.

Every day with the little one is a learning experience for all of us. On our first car camping trip to Ladybug in Sequoia National Park, I set Maggie down on our bags while I took the tent down. A few second later I heard a little scream and turned around to find that she had rolled off the bags into a pile of leaves. I quickly brushed the leaves out of her mouth and made her promise not to tell her mother - now I am more creative when finding places to stick her while I have to do stuff...


Everyone seemed pretty happy with camp...


The next day we spent the morning checking out the area between the first two lakes - clearly an old mining area with lots of interesting artifacts as well as a cascade between the two lakes.


After a bit, we set off to check out the other lakes. We found a spot for camp at lake #5 and then set out adventuring for the day.


Along with amazing vistas, we saw the biggest tad pols I have ever seen in my life, their bodies were the size of ping pong balls!



After we had about enough, we headed back to camp for some leisure time.


It seems like you can't go wrong in the Eastern Sierra, but Big Pine was a big hit with us. Great camping and lots of little side adventures, many of which we were not able to get to. The next morning we loaded up and headed back to the car, very thankful that Maggie is happiest when she is out and about.



Of Course Sherman was very happy too...


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