Nada Lake

Saturday we arose early to beat the heat and started up the Nada Lake Trail. It is a steady, long climb and we knew from experience that attempting it in the direct sunshine makes it feel all the more arduous. Not far up the trail two men warned us of goats ahead. Having never been close to a mountain goat before, both Cameron and I were excited. As we rounded every bend, we kept our eyes peeled until suddenly we approached a mother and her kid. As they grazed and lazily walked along the trail we quickly realized that we were now operating on their schedule. They finally stepped off the trail, which we thought meant we had an opportunity to pass. Cameron went first and was warned by the mother that passing her was not an option. She bucked her head at him and overall gave us a bit of a fright. Goats have been known to actually kill people, so we were not going to fool around. We conceded and let them go on their way. We finally reached a bridge over a river and as they went right, we headed left as quickly as possible. This would not be our first encounter of the day, but we quickly realized how the goats are king of the mountains and you just need to be alert and stay out their way.

Nada Lake is clear and pristine.

The bosses of the mountain.

A mother goat with her twins.

The little babies are adorable, as they frolic and run. One even hopped on its mother's back and one point. It was so fun to watch them, but really hard to get a fantastic photo.

We tried to stay on goat alert, but towards the bottom of the trail we thought we were done with them. All of the sudden Cameron told me to look up and a mother and her twins were standing three feet away looking at me. It was both scary and exciting. My heart wanted to whip out my camera, but my brain told me to get out of their way fast.

At the lake, we laid around on the rocks and soaked up the sunshine. We worked hard and applied generous amounts of bug spray so that we could enjoy this moment. 

Snow Lake is next on our list of Alpine Lakes to tackle. It was only an additional 1.5 miles up the trail, but unfortunately we were pressed for time and given the goat situation we were unsure how long it would take to get down. All in all, we were able to hike almost 19 miles and enjoy two alpine lakes, I would say not too bad for a two day trip.