On June 13th, while O was away at Youth Conference, Aaron and the boy, L joined me for an exploration of the New Fork Lakes area. Again, with little to no research ahead of time, we simply threw our dogs in the SUV, packed our packs, and headed to the trail head. After looking at the Atlas, I figured it was about 2.5 miles to the "cool stuff".
Below: the Winds as we drove north to New Fork
Below: And New Fork Lake! So pretty! That canyon in the background? That was our goal...
The trail head was lush and beautiful, and L tried to patiently wait for the rest of us to get ready...
The "Narrows", which divided the upper lake from the lower, with the Wyoming Range in the background.
The trail traveled right along the shoreline--well, at least up on the hillside...
The flowers were plentiful...I think late June is the best time for flowers up here...
Aahh....it's a good thing he likes to hike, too.
The dogs love every minute of it.
The first chance he got, Phoenix headed straight for the water. He didn't want to leave it, either.
Wow. That canyon just doesn't seem to get any closer...this was taken at about 2.5 miles in.
The beautiful New Fork River...
An old corral?
I don't know. Too much clean mountain air, I guess.
Another water stop...
Beautiful forests...
And this is as far as we made it this day, 4.5 miles. A nice view of the rapids below.
And waaayyy up on a cliff, a trickle of waterfall
Lunch and "nap" time.
This dog cracks me up. She wants to be as close to me as possible...putting herself between me and my pack...
She will hold this ball here with her nose so it doesn't "get away" before I can throw it...
The only real drawback for horses on this trail--the dead fall over the trail. Maybe it's been cleared by now?
Colorful stones from the river....
And this!!! Only at Tony Grove have I seen the very rare Elephants Head Orchid...and now along the New Fork River, in the Winds. OOooo....
The trail back along the lake...
And a view back at the canyon that we made it to...the opening, at least.
And trail's end. Love the hike. Would totally do it again.
1 comment:
Love this. You guys sure seem to have found an awesome home.
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