7/7/13 1552.2 bluff past Chilcoot Creek to 1562 above Masterson Meadow by a small spring.

This morning I was awake to see the sunrise at 5:00am. The air was cool and I decided to go down to the creek and get fresh water before I did anything else. I felt dehydrated all night so I need to drink enough water before even starting to hike today. We took our time getting going today, both of us made coffee and enjoyed the morning starting to hike at 7:15.  Walking through beautiful sloping valleys with ponderosa pines and creeks I dreamed of having a homestead here and what it would have been like. Looking up slope I saw an old metal sided shack that had fallen down, maybe someone at sometime had the same dream! These hills are red rock and red soil, boulders strewn down the hillside making the trail hard to walk on.  We made good time (2 miles in 40 min) to Bull Lake, where we took a vista break looking down into the next valley. 

We will be hiking down into Kangaroo Lake for an extended break to swim today. Hiking up the hill to the top of the point to get down to Kangaroo Lake was a steep climb.  Down, down we walked reading informative plaques about the geologic history and flowers of the area.  I now know the difference between bogs and fens! Once at the lake we tossed our trash, washed up, had a snack, drank water from a faucet!  We decided to find a nice spot to swim and rinse our stuff. Swimming was wonderful and at last Colleen got all the way in!

After resting for a couple of hours we ate lunch, I had Mt House scrambled eggs and bacon from Colleen and she made mashed potatoes, yum! Beginning the hike back up to the top of the peak we took it one step at a time, slowly, slowly up to the top, WHEW! Once at the top we did the victory Whoop! We went 2 miles and rested under a tree from the heat of the afternoon and I got a text from Robin.  He sent me pics of a party he'd been to, pics of food, food & more food... Soooo mean!! 

Rounding a corner we came upon azalea bushes, white and pink, smelling sooo sweet. I've not seen azaleas on the trail yet but we must have crossed some invisible line where we're now closer to the coast and the weather is milder. There was a wonderful cold spring at 1560 that was so refreshing, we filled all our bottles.  Approaching our camp spot we crossed a small spring and green meadow where Colleen saw a fawn lying in the meadow, we could only see it's head and big ears above the grass, lying still like Mama said to. In the trees we found a good camp spot for both tents and set up camp at 5:20. Dinner and reading in the tent til dark, we could hear an owl in the forest and some strange noises we can't quite figure out. Darkness fell fast tonight, we don't need to leave early tomorrow since the Scott Mt Summit is only 4 miles away and Denver will pick us up at 11:15. 

Azaleas and Tiger Lily at the spring.