Twin Lakes Overnight Llama Trip

 

Last weekend my parents, Dmitri, and I went for an overnight training hike with four of our llamas.  This is the second time that three of these llamas had been away from home.  The last time was the previous weekend when we did a day hike to Duffy Lake.

 

 

After loading everyone up with packs and saddles, we headed up the trail toward Twin Lakes in the Jefferson Wilderness.

 

There were lots of downed trees on the trail.  The Forest Service hasn’t made it to this trail to clear it out yet this year.

 

 

 

Very close to Twin Lakes there is a very nice parkland where we decided to make camp.  The meadow has a fair amount of lupine in it but our llamas didn’t touch the poisonous plant.  Instead, they ate all of the young, succulent grass.

 

 

We setup our cooking area on a good flat spot.  This was our first trip with a real table.  It was a nice addition.

 

My tent setup at the edge of the parkland.

 

At this point, Dmitri and I went on a hike up Maxwell Butte.  Photos of that are available in a different post on this blog.

 

 

As the sun sank low in the west, we started a fire and ate our dinner.

 

The next morning.

 

There are many dead trees in the area.  All of the lodgepole pine were killed off several years ago by bark beetles.  Someday this area is going to have a good fire sweep through due to all of the dead standing and fallen timber.

 

 

It was a Quest for Fire morning on the lake.

 

 

Getting ready to head down the trail.

 

On the way down we ran into two people who run the Northwest Hiker website.  They took pictures of our llamas.  I wonder if we will appear on their website soon.

 

 

All the packs are off and put away.  Time to load up the llamas and head home.

 

Marys Peak with Dmitri and his Parents

A few months ago I went to the top of Marys Peak with Dmitri and his parents to check out the summit.

A snake in the grass.

There were several incredibly tame Chuckars up on top of Marys Peak.  Doing some quick searching online indicates that they’ve been there for a few months.  I wonder if someone released them or what the deal is.

I could have easily made a meal out of this bird.

We saw a bald eagle in a tree on the way down from the top.

A snake crossed the road.

It went over a snowbank.  Snakes on the snow!

In the Countryside Around Riga

Dmitri’s parents and I went out into the countryside around Riga to take in the sights.  This is at a park/church area.  Some old sort of sailboat set up where people could look at it.

Crosses outside of a historic church.

Up in the rafters of the church.

I had just received a Latvian haircut the day before.

At one of Latvia’s few natural caverns.

A monument to a woman who died long ago.

Inside another church.

A castle from when Germanic knights controlled the Baltic states.

Up in the tower.

At a very large natural cave.