Eureka Lake

The park ranger was a forthright guy who looked people in the eye when he spoke. He sold me a 50 cent map of the park, and I told him I was going to hike the Eureka Peak loop. We went over the map a bit, then he looked down at his pen and said, "Generally, we advise doing the climb before 10:00 o'clock. It's probably getting warm up there by now." It was just after noon.

I liked that he looked away as he advised me not to do Eureka Peak. He sees a lot of people in his business, and he knows adults are going to make their own choices. I wouldn't disappoint him; day hikes in bad heat just demand some adjustments, that's all. Heat makes me amazingly patient and slow. Speed is unimportant, as long as you can keep going all day. Yeah, the trail was warm, but heat always brings out the wild smells: the spring flowers, the pine, the damp seeps by the boulders... You can even smell the dry dust your boots kick up.

You can see your destination, Eureka Peak, across the lake: daunting and compelling at the same time. By the way, the lake seems like it was created by the gold miners of the 1880's. Although it's not natural, it looks so righteous, a perfect foil for the peak.

Maybe the miners created Eureka Lake by damming a bowl like this one, higher up on the trail. How long will the lake have to exist before it becomes natural, and environmentalists would fight to keep it from being drained? The ranger was right. It must have been getting kind of warm up there.

Eventually, as you'll have guessed, I made it to the top. I sat on the bare rocks and ate a little, drank a lot. Took pictures. Looked around in a daze until the breeze cooled me down. Felt like a god atop the world. The usual "reached the peak" stuff. But today was bittersweet - the last day of this trip. Tomorrow would be just a long day of hard driving, and GoGo and I would be done until... I didn't know when.

It's hard when a good trip is ending.

But when I cooled down enough and my brain kicked back in, I noticed a higher peak to the southwest, not very far. If I was on Eureka Peak, then what was that? Shouldn't Eureka Peak be the tallest point? So I packed my stuff and hiked up there too, just to make sure. Took more pictures, drank more water, didn't take time to feel like a god again. Divinity once a day is fine for me, thanks.

Coming back down is much faster, in small part because I could boot-ski down the snow patches. Cooler that way, too.

I drove down to the campground, put my lawn chair in my favorite open site, and drove back to park headquarters to register for the night.

The ranger and I chatted for awhile, like how bad the traffic is where I live, and how bad the roads are in winter here where he lives. I wasn't sure he remembered me, until he asked how the hike was.

"A little warm," I admitted. "But I'm curious; that rock outcrop above the lake - is that Eureka Peak?"

He looked concerned, as though breaking bad news to me. "Well, no. That's called False Peak. Great views from there though."

"You bet. So Eureka Peak is probably the higher ground southwest of False Peak, right? Still lots of snow up there. The trail gets a little lost."

He smiled, relieved. Evidently he had been rooting for me to reach the top. He took my camp fee and filled out the permit thoughtfully.

He looked me in the eye and said, "You ought to come back here the last week of September. The campground's empty, the leaves are turning, and it's gorgeous. You could have the whole park to yourself!"

Last week of September, eh?

Proving once again that when you find your path, there isn't any damn "last day of the trip" - just your occasional short layover.

Coming to NuMoon Creations at the end of September:

...something like that, I'll work it out better after we've been driving a couple of hours...

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The font in the "Eight Lakes" logo image is called Poor Richard. The font in the "Seven Rivers" cartoon is Kilroy Was Here. They've been on the hard drive awhile now, and I've forgotten where I downloaded them from - probably Emerald City Fontworks or The Font Foundry.