Training Hike #1

One thing I really love about California....You can easily get to a different climate in a short amount of time. It was in the upper 70s or so when we left Lancaster yesterday, by the time we got to our destination it was about 55!

So what did we do? Well today was our official 1st hike of the 2008 summer! So last night we drove up to Lone Pine, CA to camp up near Horseshoe Meadow. We set up camp, cooked dinner over the fire, and enjoyed some wine and smores.

The sky after sunset was gorgeous.

Now we knew it would be chilly and came prepared, but it was so cold. I wish I had a photo of me before I went to sleep. I had on a ski hat, wool socks, gloves, 4 shirts, and 2 pairs of pants! But we woke up to a beautiful morning.

We were on the trail at 9am and hiked to the first of cottonwood lakes. Since it was our first hike, there was really no need to go any further. The roundtrip mileage (according to my Garmin Forerunner) was 10.45 miles! Not bad and we did it in less than 6 hours (with stops and lunch).

Here is where we went! (Notice the jacket and gloves...it was a bit cool up there)And we saw plenty of these...Marmots.
But we did have to cross a bit of snow! Yup, I said snow on June 1st!

We really do enjoy hiking in the sierras...just to gorgeous. Quite possibly some of the best scenery this country has to offer.