2010 Rock Creek High Sierra

Hi friends

It’s been a month since we left Maui but we’ve been on the road for just over a week. In between we’ve had a good visit with family and friends. We finally getting a blog post up. Thanks for the patience.We’re now at Rock Creek in the Eastern High Sierras. If you checked the blog last year you may notice we started last years trip here too. needless to say it's one of our favorite places

Hiking into Long Lake valley

Flowers are in summer bloom. Shooting Stars

Columbine,

Esten’s brother Kirk has joined us for a few days. He’s on a month long trout expedition. Kirk has a strange relation with trout. He studies what they eat, ties his own flies (fake bugs with a hook). Outsmarts the fish, and then lets it go (catch and release) We find this a little odd, we have no idea what the fish think. Kirk says the fish have no feeling in their lips so it doesn’t hurt them.(??) A finding no doubt proclaimed by a fly fisherman. We remind him that trout are also edible and convince him to catch dinner, which he does with ease. Landing a fish with a barbless hook looks like it takes some skill. You surely know how delicious fresh trout is around a campfire with good company. We are stuffed and happy.

We launch our new kayak for a test run on Rock Creek Lake and are rewarded with a rain shower and a Golden Eagle fishing, in that order

Yesterday Esten and I hiked up to Ruby Lake, a favorite for us (image at the top of this post). Just below tree line and 10,000 feet. We have lunch in awe of the view of this lake under a backdrop of sheer granite. On the way up we see a Clark’s Nutcracker catch a baby chipmunk. The chances of seeing that are so scarce, and it’s over in a flash. Mom is trying to scare of the attacker, but the nutcracker flies off with the baby in it’s beak. The nutcracker is a noble bird and we’ve never seen it behave this way. In fact the name implies a much gentler behavior. Eating nuts.