Serenity

This is beautiful Lake Serene, under the imposing face of Mt. Index, in the Cascade range. I told myself that if I woke up today and the sun was shining, I'd go for one last late-season hike. And it was, so I did.  It was another fairly tough hike, about 7.5 miles round-trip, with about 2000 feet of elevation gain. 

The first 1.5 miles was pretty easy hiking, through very tall trees, leaves turning color (extra) - that was beautiful. The the trail got steep and rocky, and wet... I caught up to a family with two girls about 10 yo. One of them was really into the hiking and I let her set the pace for me for about a mile. She'd stop and wait for her family, then catch up with me, pass me and lead for a bit. I told her that she was an inspiring hiker and she said, "I'm inspiring at a lot of things!"  I'm sure she is too.

You can't see it in the picture because of the scale, but there are some people's heads under the patch of snow in the middle. There is a huge granite outcropping there and many hikers were sitting there enjoying their lunch. 

Now, to ice my knees...