10 June 2011

{10june2011: Serene part 3}


Remember this sign? After hiking back down from the falls we ended up back here which pointed us 2 miles to Lake Serene. We've already been going almost 3 miles by this point and still had to get back to the car, but we pushed on.
We passed by the base of the falls and saw it from a different angle.

After we finished the whole hike we realized it would have been possible to stop and turn back at this point, but little did we know the Machu Picchu like hike we had yet to do. (We went to Peru three years ago and hiked up to a peak at the backside of Machu Picchu. It was a HARD hike basically straight up the side of a mountain. Click here to see the peak we climbed - it's the tall one in the foreground. But you did get a great view down to the whole expanse of ruins below.)
There were some tricky spots on the hike, around fallen trees and boulders. And we passed this giant fallen tree.
After climbing endless switchbacks and stairs we got to a muddy portion where people we asked said we were still 30-40 minutes away from the lake and had to cross through snow. We got to the snow part and that was a precarious short trek! The trail through the snow was very narrow and if you slipped, you could slide all the way down the mountain.
Here's a view looking back along the trail we just walked.
There was a little rocky stream bed area we had to cross and were so tired and cold we thought of turning back, but a couple passed by and said we were super close to the lake and it was just around the corner so we pushed on and finally made it to our destination!
There were low lying clouds so you couldn't even see across the whole ice covered lake, but you could hear avalanches on the mountain side across the lake.
Darwin had a blast doing zoomies in the snow while we refueled with trail mix and bananas.
After taking in the view of the lake we headed back down.
Whew. Just looking back on these pictures tires me out again! Hopefully we'll remember this hike while planning our next one!

12 comments:

  1. wow! What an amazing hike! Mom is jealous of all the green you have!

    Our hikes here in Sandy Eggo are typically only green in the late winter, early spring months, and sometimes not even then!

    She's also impressed at how mello Darwin seems. When I get to hike off leash, I go bonkers running all over the place! I prolly woulda gone over those falls if I were with you!

    wags, wiggles & slobbers
    Murphydog

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  2. Darwin, you're a world class hiker! What a beautiful hike!

    Happy, Waggin' Tails, FUREVER!
    Stumpy and me

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  3. Hi Darwin!
    I saw you over at Green Bandanna Day. Nice to meet you.
    Great pictures, great hike...we live in the NW too (we are lucky doggies, huh)!

    Wyatt and Stanzie

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  4. WOAH it looks crazy cold up there! I bet the water was fuuurrreeeezing!!!

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  5. Darwin, you get to have fantastic adventures. Do you ever get to swim? We all love swimming and though that snow looks like fun, we'd rather be swimming.
    Morgan, Tsar and the Porties

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  6. Wow!! What an amazing and adventurous hike.
    Thanks for sharing the pics. Bet Darwin enjoyed himself with all the sniffs etc
    Ernie,Sasha,Chica,Lucas

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  7. Hi Darwin! We came over from Bandana Day, too. It's very nice to meet you and that looks like an amazing hike. Good thing you brought trail mix and banannas!!

    We're three rottweilers who live near L.A. We like to hike a lot, too. come visit sometime!

    -Gizmo, Bart and Ruby

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  8. WOW!!!! I don't really need to say how BEAUTIFUL that SNOW is, do I??!!?? I sure wish me and Davy had been there!
    Play bows,
    Zim

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  9. WOW.....what an absolutely amazing hike you did.

    Darwin you are one fit girlie!

    Brilliant photos.

    Big Nose Pokes
    The THugletsx

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  10. Darwin,
    It looks like you had quite the adventure and got all of your zoomies out! That snow looks so refreshing and I wished we could get a little of that here...it is so hot here today in Puerto Rico. Have a great weekend!
    Branson the Great Dane

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  11. What an amazing hike! That lake was surreal! I can honestly say (since I didn't have to exert much of my own energy to go along ;) that it was well worth the effort to get to the top! :D That one felled tree was massive! Yikes! Y'all are quite the troopers! :D

    Waggin at ya,
    Roo

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  12. More stunning photo's!
    We are so jealous that we cannot come with you!

    Licks and lots of slobber,
    Lexi and Jasper the Danes

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