Woods Creek and Lakes

Looking northwest over a piece of second lake towards Crater Mountain. As you can see, it was beginning to rain.

Woods Camp

Woods Creek and Lakes, SEKI, Spring 2005

We had a nice camp. Sheltered a bit by trees, some buses for a windbreak, a nice little alcove for my bivy-tent and a small sheltered area for packs and gear. There was even a small sheltered spot to cook if the weather got a bit too frisky.

A section of the largest Woods Lake looking towards 3903 meters peak. It looks like you can follow that rib all the way to that peak. Maybe.

The weather did get a bit frisky. No sooner had we set up when the occasional sprinkles turned into a steady rain. No big deal. A good excuse to get comfortable in my bivy-tent and watch the show. And what a show it was. First, there was the crack and pounding rumble of lightening. I made sure I was all the way on my sleeping pad. I hoped the lightening stayed way over there somewhere and did not take an interest in our small sheltered camp. Being struck by lightening is the second most common way to die in the wilderness.

Then it began to hail to beat the band. It came down in buckets. I remember looking out the opening towards a level slab of granite, and it looked like a haze above the rock from all of the bouncing hail. I had to keep flicking away hailstones that kept bouncing into my shelter. Cool.

Looking towards Mt. Baxter over a piece of Woods Lake. Somewhere back in that valley up there is Stocking Lake.

After a short while, as expected, the hail stopped and the weather began to break up. The weather had its short violent snit and was done with us. The sun in fits and starts began to come out. After our nice rest, we came out of our shelters for a look around.