Return to Goddess Lake: VC Trip Day 4

I wake up on Monday feeling like a new person. For the first time in 4 nights, I actually slept more than 2 hours. My sinuses are still not at their best, but at least I feel halfway human.

I feel like a new lady!

Unfortunately, my travelling companions all feel the opposite (apparently I am just not on the same schedule as the rest of the world this trip). Last night's bear scare kept everyone up with anxiousness.

Everyone else.

I decide today is the day I take care of everyone, and I make a great breakfast of bacon, eggs, and tortillas. I am starting to get used to this real-food-in-the-woods thing: yet another stark difference between luxury mule camping and backpacking- you can bring items like bacon. With a few cups of campfire coffee the ladies are good to go, eager to return to Goddess Lake. I am eager to finally cast my fishing pole and catch the big one.

The fish I will catch today, and how I will look doing it.

We embark on our epic hike crossing the creek, walking through forest, and pausing along the way to take cute photos. The Green Lady goes full hippie and makes a crown out of wild flowers, a beautiful creation that she proudly wears. Along the way we encounter more people than we have seen in all 3 other days collectively; something we find odd considering it's a Monday.

Cute photo

Deer Spirit taking a breather

The Green Lady creating her crown of flowers

We finally reach the last stretch of hike, which involves scaling up large granite boulders alongside a running waterfall to reach the lake. I'm winded climbing these rocks, but ever so determined to get to my fish. When we reach the lake, I feel like I've found the oasis in the middle of a desert. I immediately set up shop alongside the lake. South, however, feels compelled to keep hiking, and does so alone. Deer Spirit and the Green Lady stop to rest.

My version of heaven

Can you spot the sleeping Lady?

When South doesn't return within the hour, Deer Spirit goes to find her up the mountain. By this time I have fully planted myself on a large boulder surrounded by water about 30 feet off the shore. I decide someone has to watch the stuff, and remain there. When Deer Spirit doesn't return in another half hour, the Green Lady goes to find her.

Now, anyone who knows the first thing about wilderness safety would say that this is the perfect set up for a disastrous ending, and they would be right. However, none of us seemed to be thinking straight that day, and I was simply too content fishing to worry about much else. However, when the Green Lady didn't return promptly I began to get a bit worried. But I was getting so many bites on my pole that I just could not leave my station.

*cough, cough

Finally, Deer Spirit and South returned, with the Green Lady following closely behind. They all had wild tales of rocky terrain, and South admitted that it had not been a good idea to go exploring solo. By this time she began to feel pretty poorly as well, likely a combination of the altitude, the strenuous hike, and not enough food. She and Deer Spirit descended, and the Green Lady flagged me off my rock (with my giant fish, of course) to quickly follow behind them.

Well, I had to figure out a creative way to get my fish down the hill! I tried strapping it to my back, but when that didn't work, both of us had to carry it down.

It looked a lot like this, only on granite.

By the time we reached camp, we were expecting to see Deer Spirit and South. However, we arrived to find an empty camp with no notes. We waited a short while but then began to get worried.The sun was starting to set and we had left a half hour after our other two teammates. We began bird calling them (our standard form of communication in crisis woods situations), but got no replies. Finally, the two emerged. They had been having such a great time talking, that they didn't even notice that they had lost the trail...and then were followed and chased by a family of killer deer. They finally escaped and found their way back to us.



Bambi? I think not. These furry animals are ferocious!

After such an eventful day, we were ready for a very mellow evening. We enjoyed a lovely dinner, and all the ladies agreed that I had caught the best grey whale they had ever tasted (Stagg chili is pretty delicious as well ;) We hung out around the fire as South recovered from her minor bout of altitude sickness and rehydrated.

The event of the night was tarot card readings, which were supplied by Deer Spirit. I did two readings on myself, during which The Maiden card showed up both times. For those of you who care, this card represents new growth and creativity- pretty timely, considering I recently began writing this blog!



Discovering my fate