Waking up in a beautiful bay all to ourselves, we decided to stay put today. I did the Sunday New York Times crossword with Daughter #1 over Zoom while we had morning coffee and the mist slowly rose. Such a bizarre mix of being remote from the world and yet having high speed internet when we're at anchor. The first half of the day was mostly spent lounging, and by lunchtime the sun was out! Ryan and I took the dinghy to shore and hiked up to Punchbowl Lake. There was once a beautiful boardwalk to get up the ridge to the lake, but it is now mostly rotting cedar boards, mud and skunk cabbage. Oh, and lots of precipitous drops, to add the spice of adrenaline to the workout.
Sometimes the boardwalks were broken, sometimes we could see where they had been swept over the bank by a rockslide, and sometimes they were just gone. It was a challenge, but we were up for it! Fortunately, the scenery helped make the scramble and mud all worthwhile. On the way up there were lots of waterfalls along the creek draining the lake into Punchbowl Cove, and we occasionally got peek-a-boo views of the bay below. The highpoint (literally and figuratively) was the lake at the end of the trail.
First glimpse of Punchbowl Lake
It’s a very lush environment. Lots of moisture for plants - and frogs!
The forest service had a couple boats and a shelter for public use at the lake
Then we had to go back down the trail…did I mention the mud?
When we got back to the boat, we were too exhausted to do much else - boating has done nothing for our physical fitness. So we just sunbathed on the back deck, admiring the scenery and drinking cool beverages. Ryan went out on the dinghy to explore the coastline while I made dinner (I had gone out last night) and saw a bear. Another boat came into the bay and has anchored nearby, sadly, but I guess we shouldn’t be greedy with the beautiful scenery here.
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