Pinecrest - Dam Walk Part 2

More pictures from our hike to the dam:

Karuna shows just how tiny is the Helicopter Landing Pad.

Arthur does not like walking across the spillway.

Clara enjoyed rock scrambling!

Zach and Tegan discuss philosophy on the walk back to the cabin.

funny contrast of warning signs and useless dock...

Pinecrest - Dam Walk Surprise!

Our hard work hiking to the dam was rewarded with not only a beautiful view from dam (and a good discussion about the pros and cons of building a dam), but also (drum roll please)...

wildlife sightings!!!

First, as we were approaching the dam, Karuna saw a coyote trotting along in the middle of the ice. Now, to be fair, she knew what to look for. Just the day before, Karuna and Dave had hike over the dam and someone had pointed out that there was a coyote who appeared to be fishing through the ice. Of course, we were delighted to see the coyote again! But some folks on the dam started throwing rocks and the coyote quickly dispersed - trotting directly across the lake.

Here it is, just a speck to the right of the bush on the left. 

A little while later (after succumbing to the urge to throw rocks off the dam ourselves) we saw ... a bald eagle! Again, Karuna & Dave had seen one the day before, but we wrote off the chances of seeing it again, mostly because we were hiking mid-day, and conventional wisdom says you see the most wildlife at dawn and dusk. So every time I saw a black bird flying over (there were several) I would joke that it was a bald eagle. But then... I saw a bird that looked quite different. Quite raptor-esque. And, lo and behold, we were graced with an eagle circling, then swooping down onto the ice. It stayed for a while, hopping and slipping not-so-gracefully around a bit, then appearing to gulp something up off the ice. Did it fish through the ice? Was there something in the ice that it could eat? I wish we knew, but any way about it the experience was stunning.

Pinecrest - Dam Walk Part 1

On Sunday we took a hike to the dam (after enjoying a morning of card games and good conversation over breakfast).

The hike was short-ish, but we took our time, lingering over rocks, ice, and other interesting things.

SMOAC Pinecrest

This week's SMOAC was Molly's to pick, and she decided she wanted to explore and go sledding on the lake bed. Pinecrest Lake is a reservoir with a hydro-electric dam and the lake is drained every winter - the resulting "beach" area is pretty fun for exploring and sledding. There are some interesting contrasts, though, because most of the boating infrastructure is left in place.

Because of the warm weather, there were also some really fascinating ice structures to examine, including the "splintery" ice shown below. Also, because the lake was so shallow there (you could see that it was only a few inches deep where the stumps broke through the ice), and the ice so clearly thick, we felt confident exploring a few feet out onto the ice, and feeling the slippery surface.