Graeagle hike two - Bear Lakes & Round Lake Loop - September 2023
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The second walk began at a car park near Gold Lake Lodge. |
On Saturday we drove fifteen minutes southeast on Gold Lakes Road to do a hike which I recently saw on AllTrails. The trail is popular and appears to be easy, with only 650 ft. of gain over 4.3 miles, in some great scenery.
Being a Saturday, there were many people on the trail and once again we saw some backpacker groups heading to higher elevations & more distant lakes.
Some of us reflected on the idea of camping here in such ideal weather, low 40s in the mornings & up to the 70s mid-day, a great time to be out backpacking in the mountains !
note - you can enlarge any part of a picture by left-clicking in and then out again (with some exceptions).
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heading to Big Bear Lake |
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first look at Long Lake & Mt. Elwell (7.818 ft.) |
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Kathy and John at Long Lake |
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Silver Lake was next |
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lunch spot |
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mountain ash |
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taking a break at Round Lake |
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great walking scenery |
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more mountain ash |
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John, Kathy, Jean |
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Jean |
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nettleleaf giant hyssop, or horse mint |
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We enjoyed seeing so many lakes in fine fall weather ! At lunch it was windy, with strong gusts, but Kathy found a lakeside bluff which afforded us some protection, as well as a wide view of Silver Lake.
On our third evening in Graeagle, Jean invited three of us over for appetizers at 4:30 pm. Her cabin had a grassy back yard with big pine trees. She served us strawberries, figs, cheese and a knockout avo-jalapeno hummus with crackers !
Then we drove to the Brewing Lair, in Blairsden, on a wooded property just off hwy 70.
There's a main brewing barn with a counter where you order beer, and just downhill are terraces w/tables, with a nice lawn all around. From Fri. to Sun. a local food truck provides food from noon to 7 pm.
Oddly enough for a Saturday night, the place seemed to empty out around 6 pm, just as we arrived, with a mountain bike group and some motor cyclists leaving.
Once settled in with a beer, we ordered food, which came quickly. I had the house brown ale, which was good, with a black bean veggie burger taco with shredded cabbage & an amazingly hot chipotle sauce. You needed a beer to put out the fire from the sauce !
go to next day's hike - Long Lake and Grassy Lake
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