I Can't Help Myself

I finished a project at work on Thursday and didn't have a new one to start on, so I got in my car and it took off toward Mirror Lake. I know, I've been here a million times, but I can't help myself. Besides, I bought a one-year pass when I got laid off in June last year, and there are only a couple weeks left on the pass. This crane was just above the last cabins in Samak, just past the McCloy property.

The Provo River Falls are in full runoff mode. Notice the mist rising from the falls.

It'll be a while before the snow melts off Bald Mountain enough for the trail to be passable. It seems like the snow precipice stays on the trail on this south side into August. Right now the parking lot isn't even passable.

Mirror Lake won't be open for some time, either. The white you see is the lake, and I think the striations are snowmobile tracks.

Brian wanted to do his annual backpacking trip along the Highline Trail this year, but we (Brian, Jared, Ryan, and I ) drove up here a couple weeks ago in the middle of the night (Boys' Night Out after dinner at Sara and Jared's), and this snow is pretty much what we saw then, as now.

I checked out the beaver pond that I watched last summer and fall. I didn't see any activity, but since the food storage is gone (it was a pile of twigs and grass in the water just beyond the lodge), the beavers must have lived on it all winter and survived. Maybe they're having babies now?

Brian also considered the trail from Christmas Meadows, but we stopped here during our night ride and saw all the water, so he decided against this spot. On Friday, I did walk about 3/4 of a mile up the trail to the first creek crossing. The trail was still pretty wet but surprisingly very passable. I forgot to look for Boreal Toads as the sign requests.

This is the trailhead to the Christmas Meadows trail.

If you look on Google Maps, you can see that a stream meanders through this pretty little meadow that is a great place for moose.

And deer. This buck was standing here watching me walk down the trail. I expected him to turn and run, but he just stood a stared. I thought of the YouTube video showing the deer beating up a guy and wondered what this deer's intentions were. As I got closer he finally turned and ran away.

At the north end of the meadow were three moose foraging, one bull and two cows.

When the bull saw me, he turned around to face me and then just stood and watched until I was out of sight. The cows looked up, but with the bull standing guard, they went back to eating. Notice the small furry antlers just starting to grow (also on the deer in the previous picture). I think this is an old bull with shaggy old winter fur falling off. You can also see his ribs. I suppose winters are tough up here.

This is the creek that the trail crosses at the end of the meadow. From here, you can go another couple miles to a turnoff to Amethyst Lake, which I've never been to but plan to check out one day.

This is Mt. Hayden from the Mirror Lake Highway.

I passed this doe and Bambi fawn along the highway and had to go back to get a picture. It was getting dark, and they were on the run, so this is the best blurry picture I could get. As usual, I saw quite a few deer along the highway at dusk. A pine marten ran across the road in almost the same location near Mirror Lake where I hit one several years ago. And a rock chuck (marmot) ran across the road just below Bald Mountain. I know rock chucks are plentiful up here, but I don't often see them out in the open.

This moon shot is from the Provo River Falls at about 6 p.m.