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Memaloose Lake,
Mt Hood National Forest |
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A week before Christmas and I was itching to have a little getaway time before the rambunctious festivities began. While packing on Friday, I Amber convinced me to go along to this lake that I have talked about so many times. You see, June lake was a big part of my past. It is for me, a time when I discovered, for the first time, who I was and what I loved. Communicating these things to a four year old was not the easiest task, but Amber seemed to want the same experiences I had. We loaded the 4Runner up and got early Saturday morning.
We made it easily as the snow piled up fairly deep in some areas. I have not been here in quite a few years, so I was glad that there was some road to be seen. Amber was excited. She leaped out of the truck and took off. The only problem was, she did not know what direction to go.
After pointing out the trailhead on the opposite side of the road, she scampered over to it reluctantly. She instead, wanted to stay where we parked as it had a nice flowing creek running through the area. I convinced her that Memaloose also had a creek running out of it. After hiking up the trail a little bit, she got the opportunity to try out her new boots, just to make sure they were really waterproof.
As we started climbing something terrible happened. It was my pack. A Gregory Whitney, I bought some months ago, had a shoulder strap break from the area that they had originally repaired. I was carrying 50 pounds of kit and was not a happy camper. I managed to finagle the strap's mounting point to get us going, if only temporarily.
We hit snow just before the lake as Amber decided it was time for pictures and playing. Playtime was over as I convinced her that my pack was functioning on borrowed time. We slowly made our way up the switchbacks heading into the rhododendron fields, just before the lake's outlet.
As I set up camp and made a little lunch, Amber tried her best to find salamanders. I told her that there would not be any until the spring, but that did not stop her from trying. After I finished setting up camp, I simply watched her in concernment. The sight of her feeling so natural in such a natural world brought a smile to my face.
It was just then that the smile faded to a frown. "Kurplunk" was all I could hear. The chilled water filled her boots rapidly as she lost her footing and ended up knee deep in the lake. We were here no longer than one hour and already had our first incident. I brought a couple extra pair of socks for me, but not her. She had to wear mine which worked and was rather funny to see also.
We scouted the area around the lake, looking for anything of interest while trying to avoid the swampy areas. Amber did not know if she could cross logs herself, but tried anyway. She did great and was happy she had the guts to try it. It is moments like this that define who you are inside, I thought.
Amber led the way as we made our way over to the mounds of snow on the lake's soggy side. I spent some time chatting with my little one as we made our way around the lake, looking for the safest way to keep from sinking. I explained to her that in my years, I have never actually been around the whole lake. I even did a day's bike ride from Milwaukee to hike out, only staying for 30 minutes. It was a 90 mile ride with a 3 mile hike, all for 30 minutes and never once did I walk around the lake.
Our pace slowed as we tried desperately to avoid the bogs around the lake. Amber was getting hungry as we decided to get some dinner ready while gathering up a some firewood for tonight's fire.
Back at camp, she was all business, gathering up wood and getting quite the fire going. There was not much wood to be found as this is quite a popular place with no restrictions. We made sure to find some dead wood to burn as cutting down live wood was against my law and would not burn worth a darn anyway.
With dinner eaten and schmores devoured, we read and played some games that I had brought along with us. The night was turning bitterly cold as we huddled closer to the fire. Amber was enjoying her time out here with me as she was starting to feel the affected from today's efforts. We retired to the tent, Amber tired, but happy. I feeling of satisfaction came over me that I could carry on this tradition of June Lake. She will talk about this for many years to come, I hoped.
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