On the Trail To Mirror Lake

We walked up to Mirror Lake today, intending to make a long loop around through the forest, but we never got very far. It was too easy to get distracted by all the rushing water and the reflections and the dogwood and birds and bugs. The path to the lake follows Tenaya Creek; we were accompanied by white water for the first mile. I never like to be very far from water when we're here; all that granite energy exploding around me, healing and inspiring and full of life. It was hotter today than it's ever been on one of our camping trips, but we had a nice breeze from the lake. Some kids were jumping in, but I had only enough nerve to dunk one hot foot in that frigid water. Colder than any time you might have stuck your foot in the freezer, colder than rolling in the snow after a hot soak. Cold. It's snow melt, and with all this heat the rivers and creeks are rising fast. They expect the campsites near the river will flood, and haven't rented them out.

The dark forests are aglow with dogwood--white fairy trees looking like they might light up at night, hundreds of delicate flowers on each tree, stretching up to the sun. We see a snake swimming in the lake, and fierce colonies of flying ants, a pair of beautiful ducks, bluejays, redwinged blackbirds, and one clump of brilliant yellow flowers. All of it backed by the sound of rushing water.