Opal Creek Hike - August 2003

In the middle of August, I went on a short hike with my friend Mark.  He's a very experienced hiker and I'm, well... out of shape.  But, he was kind enough to put up with my slow ass.  We may even do another trip next summer around the same area, which was Opal Creek, Opal Pool and Battle Axe mountain.  We were supposed to do a loop, but ended up just going in and then back out, because there was no way I could make it.

A lot of logging was done in this area.	So as we were walking around, we ran into a lot of weird equipment.	Some of this stuff seemed really old.
And there's the proof.  Crazy old.	Mark doing his best Indiana Jones.	This is some kind of camp that used to be here for the women and children of the miners or loggers.
Now it's some kind of retreat.  And they give directions too.	We made our first stop and enjoyed some of the wonderful GORP-esque mixture I prepared.	This is what we got to look at while we rested.
Just a ways in further, we came to Opal Creek...	which flows into Opal Pool, an incredibly beautiful little swimming pool.	Mark's pump was very cool... but it was *painfully* slow until we cleaned out the ceramic filter.
I think this is Battle Axe.	Just a cool view.	I have no idea what mountain this is.
We bought some of those "add hot water and out comes a meal" packages.  One of them was blueberry cheesecake.  It was way more involved than Mark would've liked.	I totally spilled about half my GORP.  I was so bummed.  Mostly because at that point, I had to carry it out and couldn't eat it.  :-(	LOOK!  I caught this picture of Mark trying to make his way into my tent late at night.  What is he trying to do to me?!?!
Outhouse.	Outhouse toilet.	Uh, no.
Just cute little me.	This is another little spot right by Opal Pool.	Very pretty.  Nice for dipping tired feet into.