Mosquitoes see a green light when their potential victims have both hands in use. The voracious little critters are a constant reminder that humans are not last on the food chain. Lunch consists of delicious trail mix and dried fruit together with a PowerBar. Each days menu was carefully planned and packed separately. High calories and low weight was the goal.
Creek turns out to be a sublime companion for the next two hours.
Soon, time out had to be taken from following the trail as it led up the watershed. There arose that spirited sound of water and gravity combining forces. The diversion is well worth it. Creek gets pinched here between boulders and regains its freedom again with glee, spreading its wings in a widening facade down the steep slopes of both smooth and rugged granite that cause long strands of swirling white pearls and breezy veils of lace that have lifetimes in the nanos but forever emit rainbows and megas of refreshing ions for the benefit of few human people. Sharply contrasting the meadow's dark green carpet of sedge, like chunks of iceberg in the Atlantic, are white patches of granite outcropping.