Our final weekend of the month was probably the most exciting for some of us, because it was the most involved, the biggest hurrah to try to take advantage of the time we were spending up there.

It kicked off Friday night with the Camelopardalids meteor shower. The anticipation for this even had been built up for several days, and we eagerly awaited the arrival for a predicted phenomenal astral event: one of the best supposed meteor showers in human history. I for one, however, was more than slightly disappointed, when the most any of us saw was 2 or 3 meteors. We stayed outside from about 11 pm to 12:30am, hoping to catch a glimpse of this epic event.

But at least now I can say I’ve seen a few meteors, and more shooting stars than I can count with two hands, so that’s also kinda cool, I suppose. Then we went to bed, because the next morning, some of us had more adventures to go on.

I joined the group going out to Mack Lake. Now this was really cool, because Mack Lake is where I camped overnight, when I was here in this area for my First Year Journey. It was nice to see that the lake was still beautiful and just like it had been about 2 years before. I’ll admit, I was a little emotional ,with my eyes watering at times on the hike up to the lake (in anticipation) having started my college career with an amazing opportunity at this lake, and now getting to close out the first half my college career with an even more amazing opportunity at the very same lake, walking on the same ground that I had 2 years before.

We stayed there for at least an hour, and waited while the group got their final GLX unit readings and the deep water sample from the raft. We were slowed down slightly because some graduate guys were trying to do a time lapse of the lake, which meant no one was allowed to walk around the lake for about a 4 day period: kind of bad timing, with the holiday Memorial Day weekend, especially picking a lake that’s not really in the back country. But we got most of what we needed, and so hiked back down.

At this point, we made our way to the McGee trail head. Abby, Rebekka and I were hiking in to camp for the night, while the others were simply hiking in for the day. When we made it to the first lake, we set our packs down, set up the tents, and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the area. We camped near the edge of the lake, but found a ways down from the stream that was a little quieter, which was really very nice. Dinner that night was a can of refried beans, rice and carrots. The night before, the size can that had fed 12 people, just about fed 3 people who were backpacking, with about half a spoonful left that no one really wanted to eat.

Just behind where we were eating, I discovered a fire ring, clearly indicating that we weren’t the first ones to think that that spot was a good one. It also left us a good place to snugly hide the bear canister for the night.

The following morning, we got up around 7, packed up camp, and hit the trail. We made it back to the trailhead, got picked up by Yoko, and went back to the cabin, where there was no more use putting it off…. it was time to start working on our third status reports, and the final Watershed Profile Assessment (WPA).

Until Next Time,

Joe