Lava Lake - slowly!

Yesterday J and I went on a momma/son hike FOR SIX HOURS! Wow, was that a long hike. But so enjoyable. He talked and sang and talked and sang. People must have thought he was a bit strange. His singing primarily focused on Amazing Grace, but periodically he'd throw in a chorus of Iron Man just to keep me on my toes. He talked about loving math because he loves patterns, how to avoid being bitten by rattle snakes, what color of uniform shirts he wants for school this year, and how sad he was that he had to let his grasshopper go free that morning (this was with tears welling up in his eyes! Really no complaints from him about the three miles of constant up to get to the lake. He did want to eat regularly, but didn't need to stop for rests other than that.

There were a couple of creek crossings along the way, which he was just certain he is quite the mountaineer for finding a way across these - I guess the 45 other people we saw along the hike didn't do it quite as well as he did. Do all little boys have such big egos, or is this something I should be working on as a parent?

I got to practice taking pictures in the shadows on a very bright and sunny day. Some of them turned out okay. Thanks to Doris and her blog a few days ago for the tips!

This was our ultimate destination - Lava Lake. We went there last year, but the water was way down and it looked ugly. This year, it is not ugly! We spent our time out on the little spit with the bright white rock you can see just left of center in the above photo.

Lots of Indian Paint Brush around the lake, which was nice because it is my favorite of the wild flowers, and J declared it to be his too!

He went in the water - and loved it. I stayed dry on the rock - and loved it!

We headed back down - three miles of all down - and it went much slower than I expected. You see, last year when we did this challenging hike for the first time, J cruised up it, and then fell five times on the walk back down - skinned knees, elbows, palms, everything. So, this year he was extra cautious, and we went extra slow. I finally got him to speed up a bit by talking about having a Halloween party - he loves Halloween and costumes, so this got him so engaged in conversation he forgot to go painstakingly slow. Guess now we're committed to that party.

I'll leave you with this "wonderful"?????? mom and son photo - note, after swimming in the snow fed lake, he needed to wear his jacket half way down the mountain just to warm up. That is why I loved staying on the rock! Have a great day!