As my lovely wife has already shared, we went for a beautiful hike last weekend up to Pine Creek Lake. It was a beautiful trip up the 3000 ft. trail. We started a bit later than we had hoped, but because we were traveling during sunset, we saw some amazing views that were simply astounding. I couldn’t help but loose myself for moments in the amazing grandeur of God’s creation. It took us about three hours to hike nearly four miles. At times we thought we were close to our destination, just to find a new set of switchbacks jutting far to the left or right of where we wanted to go and a new plateau to summit. This happened to us three times, each time a beautiful, cascading waterfall would be flowing from the next plateau. We took a moment to take a break and have a light snack and met someone coming up behind us. He got off work late and we’re pretty sure he still had to work the next day, as he left before 7:00 am the next morning.
We arrived around 9:30, just as the sun was disappearing behind the horizon. We had to pull out our headlamps to navigate across a little stream with an even narrower log placed as a bridge. We quickly found a spot that was somewhat sheltered from the wind. It was just down from the plateau ledge, had a log that served as a seat, and Jess quickly set off to get us some rocks to make a fire ring. I removed the three logs from my pack. Yes, I brought wood! We didn’t know what the wood situation was going to be like up there as this was our first time. I needlessly carried it, as there was a plethora of down, dry wood not too far off from our camp site. Although, I do have to say that the wood I packed made for sustaining the fire much easier. We ate some food, made some s’mores and settled in for sleep around 11:00. We had a great time trying to take some pictures of the stars, but without a tripod, it was difficult. We both laid there staring up into the heavens, awestruck by the sheer infinite multitude of stars. They were so brilliant and mesmerizing, that it took a while to stop our stargazing and sleep. Speaking of sleep, it wasn’t that great. I don’t think I slept much that night, I just couldn’t find a comfortable position. We woke up around 6:30 am and made ourselves some coffee. I brought a pot and a french press, the percolator was a little too big! We went for a quick stroll around what we later discovered is Jewel Lake, which is only 100 ft. away from Pine Creek Lake. We took some pictures, came back to the campsite and read our daily devotion. We packed our things up and headed down the mountain. Please enjoy my pictures!
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