Here we go, past the ‘tourist’ loop (Helen McKenzie Lake) and on to the next level. Not hardcore, but not ‘a walk in the park’ (sorry, bad pun) either. No groomed trails here, but a trail nonetheless. By the way, yet another meadow!
There is so much water up here it borders on ridiculous. The waters are so clean and clear.
Entering alpine country. This pic was intended to show the intense green for the water, but didn’t quite work out.
Croteau Lake with snow peaks in the background. The whiskey jacks were here and cheeky as ever. From here it’s DOWN to Murray Meadows and then UP to Kwai lake.
Murray Meadow, north end. This place is stunning.
North end. Pictures just don’t do justice.
A section of ‘trail’. This show the level of ‘maintenance’. The trail varies so much in quality and makeup, but never disappears. There’s no chance of getting lost unless you really want to.
Kwai lake. One of the few areas where camping is allowed. There were many tents here this day. Our destination is a little under 2 km from here. I don’t relish the thought of camping up this high; too cold.
Kwai facing south. Again, clean and clear water.
Beautiful. No, that’s its name. Lake Beautiful. No sandy beaches here. Rock, and more rock.
The final leg to the viewpoint. We’re right on top of the mountain.
The view! Looking south. This cliff is shear. I’m not going near the edge.
Unlike my fearless hiking buddy.
Looking across to where Moat lake is, just behind the smaller ridge. Many waterfalls to be seen, and sound of them carried across the valley.
And now the long hike back. We were both hurting a bit at this point. Only 9.5 km to go! By the time we got back to the truck, we were walking a little funny, but we made it.
I’ve never seen such a fresh-looking fungus before. This was a great trip. The next one is to Circlet lake. When my legs stop hurting, that is. If you’re wondering about the title of this post, it’s this. There’s a cost to embracing life (in this case, a ‘little’ discomfort), and this is but a shadow of what is to come.
Choose to be free. 
Stunning scenery! The “trail” looks like a bit of an ankle killer though…
~ Wendy
and knee killer, and hip killer, and attention killer and complain inducer…:>
Head to ipiccy.com (it’s free). Upload a picture. On the left hand side, find “Exposure” and click on it. Play with the “highlights” and “shadows” sliders. Click apply when you like it. Then, scroll down and find “Vibrance” on the left. Click on it, and wait a sec… The computer will show it at 50% vibrant. You can add more or take some away.
Those simple changes will make a WORLD of difference in your pictures. And it’s free.
Also, do you resize your pictures before posting them? If not, they’ll eat up your free wordpress space. While in ipiccy, click on “resize image.” Change the biggest number to 1000 (if it’s greater than 1000.) The other number will adjust itself. Your picture will suddenly look much smaller. Don’t worry. Click on apply, and it’ll go back to regular looking size, but the file will be smaller. If you save that picture SAVE IT UNDER A NEW NAME, so you always have the full size image somewhere, in case you need it. In fact, always save under a new name, so that you have the original if you don’t like your changes after all.
Sometimes if you resize the pictures, they get blurry. In that case, click on “Sharpen” and play with “sharpness” or “clarity.” Go light on those, or it’ll start looking fake.
Oh, and the reason to play with highlights and shadows, vibrance and sharpness, is that most cameras adjust for those things on their display screens. You take the picture, look at it on the camera and think, ‘That looks great!’ but when you upload it to the computer, it doesn’t look as good. For some reason, those little adjustments that your camera does for you don’t translate onto the computer. So, if you want the pictures to look like they did on the camera, you have to manually add those changes back to the picture.
Very odd, but that’s what I’ve been told by my photography friends.
Wow, it that ever true! I lose a ton of color nuance when real life goes digital.
It drives me crazy. I wish cameras didn’t do that, because then I would better know if I want to change my camera settings or not.
Thanks for the input. There’s ALWAYS lotsaroom for improvement. Let’s see if you can tell which future ones I ipiccied. Yes, this is a contest :>. I still haven’t figured out how to put a REAL (ipiccied, of course) smiley in my comments. Cheers.
Beautiful and peaceful! my favorite picture would be the Croteau Lake with snow peaks in the background.
Agreed, although Murray Meadow was more peaceful. Beauty all around and sometimes I choose to be blind. Weird. thanks for the comment.
Gorgeous pictures. It looks like a very serene place. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, and it certainly is. My son and I go ‘up’ quite a bit, and it’s hard to come back down. But the cliche holds true. I’m going to Circlet lake tomorrow, at the foot of Mt. Albert-Edward. Stay tuned for more pics. I sure wish I could post and share the feelings of peace. Ah well.
Great pics. We have to travel some to find trees. We do have water, but most of it is in Lake Mead or Lake Powell. It would be a problem if you were stranded. And thanks for liking my blog at The Adventure of Art.