Cone Lake?

Cone lake, huh? Well, if you call a low spot a lake then this might qualify. It's funny, years ago my ex and I were wanting to get out and go for a drive. So we had seen signs for Cone Lake before and decided to go on out there and see what it looked like. On the way in there off of Highway 44 there are many signs leading the way to this natural wonder. We kept seeing signs all the way in, Cone Lake 4 miles... Cone Lake 3 miles... etc. all the way there. I have to give it to the sign people, they have it well signed. Well, if you are expecting to see a lake when you get there, like we did, you will be a bit disappointed. The first picture is Cone Lake and as you can see it is nothing more than a low spot that water must accumulate in when there is water to accumulate. Since I had been there before it wasn't a surprise to me this time to see it again.

The road in there is a nice ride albeit a little wash boardy. It's still nice and green and the volcanic rocks and lava flows are quite interesting, at least I thought so. I went there to ride the trail that leads into the wilderness that starts at the Cone Lake trail head. There were a couple of vehicles there when I got there but I didn't see any people. I would guess it's a mile or so from the parking area to the wilderness boundary. Most of it was nice enough for a mountain bike but there were a few rocky spots I walked through. Bikes are prohibited in the wilderness so I didn't go past the signs. On my way back out I passed a group of 4, riding horses in and also a small group of hikers. They were all heading in and I was leaving... good timing for me. My ride today was only 7 miles round trip, I had parked a couple of miles from the trail head. It was a nice change, yesterday I rode from town up to Westwood Junction and back down the Bizz for a total of 37 miles, so today it was a leisurely trip. Fun stuff..

The lighter side of life.

After watching the smoke from the fire up at Antelope Lake this week and knowing what the fire was doing to the forest where I do most of my recreating, it was nice to get out and see some wildlife. This doe and her babies were fairly unconcerned as I rode my bike down the Bizz Johnson trail. I just had to stop and get a picture of them. Mama did keep a close eye on me while I was snapping this picture but they didn't run off. The hot weather has made it nice for me to ride up to my favorite swimming hole each day and I've seen these deer a couple of times. Last night we had a pretty good light show from the lightning so I went up to skyline park and sat on the bench and took the other pictures. I should've taken my tripod. There is more lightning predicted for today so maybe I can try again. As far as the Antelope fire goes, the latest maps show that the fire has burned up most of the area out in Dry Flat where I used to ride my bike. If it goes the way it did last year the Forest Service will keep the area closed most of the summer so who knows when I'll get back up there. Oh well.