Lake Alice Toxaway Loop Part 2

These are the photos Jason Taylor gave me from his camera.

This is the trailhead. It shows a lot of trail systems that are available to hike through this region.

 Here is the deer and the baby I was talking about in the last post.

 Farley Lake

 This was pretty cool, the trail goes right through a big rock patch.

 Logan in action. This was one of the easy creeks to cross.

 Lake Toxaway

 The mountain behind Lake Toxaway as the sun is setting.

 Logan fishing at Lake Toxaway in the early evening.

 Lake Toxaway in the morning.

 This is the 2nd day and we are just getting started. This was the 1st snow patch we came across the 2nd day and it only got crazier as we went over snowy side pass.

 Fun trail to walk across...

 Lake Toxaway from the opposite side.

 The trees and granite in this area were amazing! It was so beautiful to hike up all the snow and the water flowing over the granite.

 What happened to the trail... Do we dare cross? We ended up going above and finding ways across the falling water and meeting up with the trail again. This was probably my favorite part of the whole hike, it was a lot of fun.

 This is a small lake above Toxaway, it wasn't even listed on Jason's map even though it was of substantial size. This country is covered with lakes.

 This is a picture as we are hiking up the pass. You can't actually see Toxaway but you can see the two little lakes above it. This picture will just keep repeating itself as we get higher and higher.

 The old snag near the saddle.

 Here is the final picture as we have made it up to the saddle.

 This is Twin Lakes on the opposite side and we have already started heading down to them.

 That biggest peak center left in this one is El Captain, which Alice Lake is just below that area.

 Tons of snow in Twin Lakes.

 Jason's camera ran out of life before we reached Alice Lake. I gave him my pictures, so I guess with both our pictures we have a more complete story of the hike. Once I obtain Logan's pictures then I think it will be complete. Beautiful!!

Lake Alice and Lake Toxaway Loop

These are the pictures from my camera of the our hike. We went July 5th through the 8th. We drove up to Pettit lake about dark and camped there the first night. We then hiked to Lake Toxaway, these are the first set of pictures. We then camped at Toxaway and fished. The next day we hiked over to Alice lake where we set up another camp. I accidently packed my camera at the bottom of my bag so I did not have any picture of the 2nd day, but it was the most scenic. I need to get the pictures from Logan Thompson and Jason Taylor. That area was so beautiful, I want to go there again.

This is on the 6th, we started hiking early in the morning, I would guess before 7 am. Right away we saw a mother deer with her baby just chilling by the side of the trail. Logan saw a Honey Badger, but I never witnessed such events.

 There is cascading water all over the place. It was so beautiful, I just could never get a picture that really gave an appreciation of the view.

 We are just opening up into a meadow right here on the 1st day right before coming to Farley Lake. At the other side of the meadow you can see a huge river that has cut a little valley into the mountain. It is huge and has a huge drop. I took some pictures of the river but I did not post them because I did not like the way they turned out, the River was just so beautiful. 

 This is the other side of the meadow above. You can see our trail. If you look to the right from here you will see that river.

 Lots of creek crossings.

 Cool spots like this where the water just flowed down the granite rocks. It looked like awesome natural water slides, but we did not get in.

 Here is Toxaway, this lake was HUGE! I could not believe how big it was for how far up in the mountains we were. This was the last picture I took on the 6th before I "lost" my camera.

 This was where our camp was at Alice Lake

 This is looking from out camp spot.

 The next part of the hike I do not have any pictures of but I will try to get some. This is our camp the 2nd night. Jason is gather up some firewood. There were so many good spots to camp yet, two different groups camped within eye sight of us. Alice Lake was almost as big as Toxaway and had way more spots for camping. When we go there again we will know better spots to camp away from people.

 This was the morning of the 8th before we left, I think it was my best pictures

 This is El Captain from the trail on the way back.

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 Logan taking a break to fish the river

 Jason taking advantage of the break and eating some jerky!!

 This river was way cool, just rushing down the mountain. I wish the picture relayed the steepness of the land. Maybe the white water will to those who have experienced stuff like this.

 A picture from below

 Cool springs coming out of the mountain.

 Back to Pettit Lake. One day I will have to get a cabin on that lake. Wakawakawaka.

That area was so beautiful, I want to go there again. More pictures when I meet up with Logan and Jason.

13 Weeks

How embarrassing, right? Not only do I look a lot more pregnant than I am, but my face is breaking out like mad. It has got to be a little girl chillin in there!