Greenwater Lakes

The thing I love about working for the public schools is that I get school holidays.  I cherish the summertime when I get to spend lots of time with Pongo.  Although I do work a second job at a nursing care facility, I generally get to work as much or as little as I want.  Usually, I work a couple weeks in the summer, a few days here and there spread out over ten weeks, covering vacations for other speech pathologists.  There is always lots of time for doggie adventure.

We explored yet another new hike yesterday, called the Greenwater Lakes. I met one of the teachers from my school at Wally's Drive-In in Buckley.  She brought her golden retriever, Bella, and we all piled into my car.  To reach this trailhead, we drove on Hwy 410 to the little town of Greenwater, just as we did a week ago for our hike to Snoquera Falls.  But this time, we turned left onto Forest Road 70 about a mile past town.  The trailhead is about 9 miles from there and is clearly marked by a large sign. 

It was a cloudy, cool day and to my surprise, was threatening to rain. I was unprepared for cold, wet weather and had forgotten to bring a jacket.  Luckily, the entire trail was forested and protected us from rain.  Pongo and Bella immediately charged off into the forest and we followed at a good clip to stay warm. 




We followed the Greenwater River upstream.  The trail crosses the river three or four times before it reaches Greenwater Lake, a long, shallow lake, after 2 miles.  This part of the hike is easy and quiet and we didn't encounter any other hikers on the way up.  This proved to be a good hike for late summer, as there was plenty of water for the dogs to drink and cool down in. 



     Greenwater River



Pongo enjoys getting his feet wet, and lapping up the cool, clear water.



We crossed the river on narrow log bridges where we had to walk single file.



Here Pongo climbs up the steps to cross one of the log bridges.

After a couple hours, we decided to take a break and sat down to eat the peanut butter sandwiches we had brought.  Pongo and Bella begged for bites and we rested on logs in the lush, old-growth forest. 

If you continue on, you eventually will reach Echo Lake, which is a seven mile hike from the trailhead.  We decided to save that for another day, and headed back down after going only a few miles.  I had goosebumps on my arms and had gotten chilled while we sat to eat.  I wanted to get going, and it would only get colder if we continued up the trail.

On the way back, we encountered a couple of hikers with big packs who were headed to Echo Lake to camp overnight.  I felt a little pang of jealousy, but did not envy the weight they were carrying.  Maybe one of these days we'll do an overnight hiking/camping trip.  It's certainly on Pongo and my bucket list!!