Thankfully, the campground was spared from fire. And thankfully, we were lucky to get a site on a Friday--a very nice and large site at that!
Our nearest neighbor was through the trees.
And nobody behind us, only woods and a seasonal creek.
The previous camper's child had constructed a delightful greeting for us, a mini campfire or maybe this was a fairy home.
After settling in and eating lunch, we headed off to the Arnot Creek trail. We had done this hike with our daughter four years ago. So we were eager to see what it looked like after the fire.
We hiked from the campground to the trailhead, about a mile. Along the way, we hiked by this huge logging truck.
Sadly, the path looks like this for about a mile.
We remember this hike being under a green canopy of pretty pines. Since it was hot and we were tired, we hike up to the sign post at Woods Gulch. There we explored an open meadow before turning back.
On the way back to the campground, we cross the bridge that goes over the Clark Fork.
We hiked about 5 miles that first day, just long enough to tire us out. We showered, ate, strolled the campground checking out neighbors, and retired early to bed that evening.
Second day's plan was to hike up to Boulder Lake, but that didn't happen. We did have a delightful hike!
We parked at the end of the road by a pretty meadow that sits below the Iceberg.
We were surprised to see two horses munching away in the meadow. The white horse would follow the brown horse. At one point, the brown horse started to come over toward us, but then quickly stopped. There is a metal fence along the Clark Fork trail. It looks like the fence goes around the perimeter of the meadow.
Not far from the trailhead, the trail has a short, steep climb. This ascent provided us with a rewarding view of the Iceberg and....
... a specular view of the canyon. All is lush and green. Thankfully the fire didn't come through the canyon. After the climb, the trail takes a short, gentle descent and then parallels the river, Clark Fork.
Meeks drank from the icy cold river. That was her reward for making the ascent!
We stopped often to explore the beauty of the river.
And even found a couple of places with sandy beaches.
After a couple of little stream crossings, we came to Boulder Creek, ~ 2 miles. We looked around for a junction post for Boulder Creek trail, but we didn't see one. So, we continued on the trail for about another half mile. The trail starts its climb out of the canyon towards Mary's Pass at this point. We realized that we hadn't seen the junction or a marker. So, we head back to Boulder Creek to find the junction, but we never did find the trail. That may be due to large downed trees obscuring the trail.
So, we abandon the idea of making it to Boulder Lake. It's not running away. We will keep it on our bucket list for future hikes in this region.
On the way back to trailhead, we notice a cave up high in a large granite formation.
On the same granite formation are some trees growing. Their root structure must not be very deep or large.
After our descent and close to trailhead, we take time to admire the beauty of the growth of this dead tree. We take note of the cracks and noticed the center, the origin.
Back at camp, we rest from another 5 mile hike.
Yes, we will be back to explore more trails, like Disaster Creek.
