White Pine Lake Trail

If you go:

• This is Hike #20 in Cache Trails by Jim Sinclair. 
• Our GPS logged about eight miles (we had two different units with slightly different amounts) for the trail plus a little over a mile for the loop around Tony Grove Lake. 
• The pedometer registered 20,760 steps for the whole thing. 
• Elevation at start was 8,147 feet, maximum elevation was 8,787 with ascent of 1072 and descent of 1141. The lake lies lower than most of the trail, so the last bit into the lake is quite a drop. 
• The parking at Tony Grove Lake costs $5.00 per car, so don't forget to bring a bit of cash. 

It's wildflower season!  We did this hike at the end of June.  Sometimes that time of year there is still a lot of snow, but not this year. As a result, we got to enjoy many of the early wildflowers like Nutall Violet:

Glacier Lily

As we climbed higher, there were lots of Glacier Lilies.  On one of our first hikes, we were so pleased to find and identify these lovely flowers. They only bloom in the early part of the year, usually next to melting snow, and at altitudes above 7,000 feet, so we consider them a rare treat each spring.  Here they are in the rocks and beside a stream.

Hydrophyllum capitatum, Ballhead Waterleaf has a name that describes it perfectly.

Unidentified PWF (Pretty White Flower)

Cinquefoil

Cinquefoil and some lovely new growth on the evergreens.  Janet has a great speech about new life and new hope that she promised she would share with us if we posted some pictures of that beautiful new green.

This pretty leaf was in some cooler and wetter areas.  I believe it's Heuchera, but it's not blooming so I'm not certain.

Here's another unidentified one.  If someone wants to comment and let us know, we'd be pleased!  This one was very impressive with its bushy growth and slender leaf design.

The tiny white ones are Spring Beauty, and they bloom along with the Glacier Lilies as you can see in the photo.

This cutie is Hairy Clematis, which is always facing the ground, so that's why you get a sky background.

Forget-me-nots were plentiful on this hike.  We have a special connection this year to this tiny beauty.  Many of us are trying to remember the things that Elder Uchtdorf told us to "forget not" in his talk.

Even where the flowers weren't blooming yet, there was plenty of beauty to behold.

This tree fell in the forest.  The root system was massive.  We wondered if anyone was there to hear it?

Yes, there was a bit of snow on the trail, and we enjoyed a little play time, 

 including a snowball toss.

Fourteen of us reached White Pine Lake.  We like to take group shots and try to do something a bit different each time.  This time we were attempting to be serious with straight faces.  Some were better at it than others, but one person got laughing so hard she had to hide her face.

There were lovely streams running down into the lake.

 White Pine Lake is a small high mountain lake that must have fish in it because we sure did see a lot of fishermen.  It's very popular for overnight backpacking outings because there is a campground here.

On the way out, we met up with five dads each bringing little boys, a couple of scout troops and some other people.  White Pine Lake is definitely a trail worth trying out.