Obsidian Limited Entry Area - Week 36 - August 30, 2021 to September5, 2021

This was such a good week - because we (Bev, Olga, Julie Reed, and I) Hiked to a most beautiful place.  The Obsidian Limited Entry Area has everything - trees, lava, rivers, creeks, springs, waterfalls, alpine meadows, bluffs with stupendous views....everything except waves and a sandy beach.

Day one -the drive to the trail head is about 3 hours.  We tried to leave early at 7:00 but it turned out to be more like 8:30.  We headed out, hiked the five miles to Sunshine Meadow and then made our camp in the trees to the north of the meadow.

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We finally reached Sunshine Meadow!!!  We were overcome by the beauty of what we saw.

Day 2 =  We woke up to really super cold temperature.  We were not expecting this.  There was ice in the stream.

We had a decision to make.  Originally we had decided to hike up to Lake Arrowhead and spend the second and third day there.  But the elevation is much higher and the area is more exposed that we were down at Sunshine Meadow nestled in the trees.  We figured night two and three were be too cold up at Lake Arrowhead, so we decided to do a day trip up to the lake instead.  I was disappointed, but it was a correct decision.  

We headed up the mountain...about a mile plus to Lake Arrowhead.

Then we headed back down to our camp.

Day Three - September 1, 2021 - my birthday

We woke up to an even colder morning.  I'd slept with the water filter in my bag so it wouldn't freeze.  But as soon as we hung it up to filter water, ice formed on the filter, and only a dribble of water emerged.  Fortunately we'd collected enough water the night before.  There was ice forming on the surface of the stream and crossing it on the icy rocks was slippery.  Our plan was to walk south on the Obsidian Plain, pass by Sisters Spring, and stop at Obsidian Falls and read our books in the sunlight.

The photo below shows where we'd been the previous day - up on the bluff.  to get there we hiked us the valley on the left and then up side of the valley to the right.

Sunrise

The source of Sister Spring.  We replenished our water.

Then we followed the flowing water to the falls, our destination

At the top of the falls

And the bottom of the falls

We sat in the sun for a long time, reading, and enjoin the alpine experience.

Then we headed back

Broke camp.  Hiked back to the car and past these big logs that had fallen during the icy winter.

We had planned to have dinner at Poppa Al's but it was closed - -only 6:00 pm. l So we drome further toward home and stopped in Mehama and ate at The Little Gingerbread House...which turned out to have good hamburgers!