May 6th

I woke up for the second time at 9:00, and sunlight was already shining brightly through the windows. I got up and ate breakfast before getting dressed for the day’s hiking. I proceeded to the visitor center to buy a compass, and then I headed straight for Bear Lake Road. I ended up driving a considerable distance before getting up to 9,800 feet and arriving at the trailhead. There was way too much snow for me to even begin to hike it without snowshoes. I tried, and I was instantly in knee high snow! I thought a minute, disappointed that the recommended hike wasn’t going to happen, and finally decided to expand the second planned route. I arrived at Lake Sprauge at around 10:00, and there were very few people there. That was excellent, especially since the trail was mostly clear of snow. I guess that since this trailhead was 1000 feet lower than the first, the snow had already melted. I began the hike at 10:15 and had a great time. The path was well marked, and I was gone for about three and a half hours. I ended the farthest point of the hike at a place called The East Portal, and found myself at a water reservoir being fed by a small mountain stream. I didn’t see any wildlife except a squirrel and a woodpecker. There is a slideshow of the hike here----:

After the hike I went straight back to the trailer to have some lunch, and did so with some spaghetti a la Rita. It was pretty excellent, so I scarfed it down and ended up playing guitar for a while. While playing, I looked out my window and saw a huge hawk in a tree nearby, and I started to watch it through my binoculars. After watching the hawk until it flew away I was inspired to go for a drive and see if I could see any more wildlife. I went up to the West Alluvial Fan first, and then came back down to get up to Rainbow Curve. The drive up to Rainbow Curve was one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been on. I meandered up the mountainside until finally reaching the maximum altitude of 11,500 feet. At that height trees can no longer survive so the sub-alpine climate turns into to an alpine one. I took lots of picture of all of this, so be sure to check out the slideshow.

The drive back down was just as gorgeous as the way up, and I arrived back at the campsite at around 5:30. I felt that it was too late to start another hike, so I got back to Rita and read my book for a while. Upon my mom’s recommendation, I started The Alchemist - so far it is excellent. Around 7:00, I thought that some dinner would be nice, so I ate a sandwich and some fruit. My belly is full, and I am currently listening to music while writing. I think that I’ll play guitar for awhile, and maybe read, and then drift off to sleep for the long drive tomorrow.