What a wonderful life it is when you are on vacation. The true vacation for me is not going to touristy destinations surrounded by a lot of people. The true vacation for me is finding a secluded spot or a hike that is less traveled and submerging into experiences that nature has to offer. Today I went on a hike to Heather Lake. It is one of my favorite spots because it is so beautiful once you get there. Getting there is another matter. The trail is torturous. The terrain is either rocky with big boulders sticking out and a lot of smaller rocks or full of ancient tree roots that are hugging the trail like veins of the earth, One misstep and you are on your ass. In fact, the trail is so dangerous that if you don’t pay attention and fall most likely you will end up dead with your brains splattered all over the rocks or at best will break some part of your body. Nevertheless, today I have seen a lot of people claiming with children in tow. I guess maybe it is some kind of initiation into who knows what. If I had a child that child won’t be climbing that trail until they are of drinking age. But that’s just me.
There are usually a lot of people on that trail if you got on weekends. But since I am vacationing at my friend’s cabin on Lake Roesiger I went on a weekday. But it is summer, the school is out and the trail was full of teenage couplings who went there to dip into glacier water as a right of passage. It’s a thing.
Once you get to the lake, after climbing 2.5 miles of 1,200 ft elevation it is absolutely stunning (see it on Instagram). The lake is surrounded on one side by abrupt stony formations of cliffs and by gentle green slopes on the other. When I went there for the first time it was high summer and all the snow have melted giving way to luscious green sprouting all over. It was so green including the lake water itself that upon entering you felt like you are swimming in it. Absolutely incomparable to anything else experience. You could feel all the stress leaking out of your body and the peace of mind taking hold instead. This time, however, there was still snow on the ground regardless of 80 degrees of warmth in the air. I had to hike for about a half of mile in snow. My beastie loved it. He was running like a mad puppy and joyfully rolling in the snow. You could see the happy grin on his face. That inspire of the frustration of constantly sliding in melting white made me happy. Now made everything look dramatic and instead of a healthy dose of green what you are given is an awe of how magnificent and regal the cliffs are. How green the water in the lake is in contrast to all the snow, how small you are — just a speck on the landscape estuaries old. You cannot help but wonder what else that place has seen.
Exhausted, after purchasing some food and booze at the incredibly overpriced Market store in Granite Falls (there is no competition or big store chains where I have arrived at the cabin drenched with sweat. Thank god the cabin is on the lake. The dip in the water was most welcome development. I swam and swam and it was hard to get out of water when you enjoy every caress the water offers to your tired body. It was the best swim ever. At some point, I was just floating and looking at the sky and thought nothing. I love when it happens when your head is absolutely quiet and nothing matters. I only experience it when I run. The swim made prepackaged burrito the most delicious thing on earth and life worth living. Now the beauty is passed out and I am writing. All is as it should be.
